Raikkonen tops first day of Jerez test

Kimi Raikkonen marks his return to F1 by being fastest in the first test session.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen made an impressive comeback to Formula One by topping the timesheets on the first day of pre-season testing at Jerez. The Finn set a time of 1.19.670 as he laid down his marker to challenge for the 2012 Championship, after a two year absence. Raikkonen completed 75 laps as he finished the day fastest. Paul di Resta was an impressive 2nd for Force India, just a tenth shy of Raikkonen's time. Mercedes and HRT were using their 2011 cars, which Marussia, formerly known as Virgin, are absent from this test. Nico Rosberg ended 3rd and Michael Schumacher was 6th for Mercedes, but it shouldn't be looked into, as they were using the 2011 car.


Kovalainen ended the day 10th for Caterham

 The big three teams had a very low key day, with Mark Webber 4th after a late start, but the Aussie began to set some fast times towards the end of the eight hour session. Jenson Button was eighth for McLaren, who could be a crucial team this season. Of the nine cars revealed so far, only McLaren haven't adopted the strategy of having a step in the nose, with the other eight taking this oppurtunity. Button was a full 1.3 seconds quicker than Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who yet again used the high-vis paint on his rear wing, which helps measure downforce. Daniel Ricciardo was fifth for Toro Rosso, his new team, while Kamui Kobayashi was seventh. Both of these drivers caused red flags during today's session, with Kobayashi coming to a halt on the back straight with 20 minutes left, while Ricciardo's car came to a halt at Turn One with just over an hour left of the session. Heikki Kovalainen was the first car out, and finished the day 10th, just ahead of Pastor Maldonado, whose Williams car, launched this morning, finished just two tenths behind Kovalainen. HRT were a worrying four seconds off Raikkonen's pace, but they were using the 2011 car.

Mark Webber's RB8 caused much interest

Mark Webber's Red Bull RB8 sported a hole in the top of the chassis in the area of the step in the nose caused much intrigue. Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey said of this part: "The slot at the base of the ramp to the nose into the front bulkhead is simply driver cooling. Traditionally that is right at the front of the nose. Really for styling as much as anything we moved it where you now see it to break up the aesthetics of the ramp that is required by the regulations." The Australian driver, who has finished 3rd in the last two seasons, said of his day's running "It's very early days but so far, so good. We had some late parts because of the fog at the airport but we made a reasonable recovery. We still managed 55 laps and the car ran very well this afternoon. We're satisfied so far. I'm very optimistic I can have a good season." The ramp or step has emerged on all new cars bar McLaren because of new rules that mandate a lower nose tip, while the maximum height of the front bulkhead of the chassis has remained at the same, higher level it was last year.

The times in full:

	Driver	Team	Time
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	1.19.670
2	Paul di Resta	Force India	1.19.772
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes*	1.20.129
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1.20.496
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1.20.694
6	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes*	1.20.794
7	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1.21.353
8	Jenson Button	McLaren	1.21.530
9	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1.22.815
10	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1.23.178
11	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1.23.371
12	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT*	1.23.676

*2011 Car

Keep with my blog for all the opinions, launches and testing updates throughout the winter, as we count down to the Australian Grand Prix.