Massa dominates Valencia on first day of testing

7 teams officially posted times at Valencia on Monday. All of the drivers were getting familiar with the new cars and their controls. They tested the base setups and several other systems to make sure that every one of them worked perfectly.

Not to be taken lightly after his life threatening injury last year, Felipe Massa showed strong pace throughout the day. Massa completed 102 laps in his Ferrari and instantly established the pace of the F10 Ferrari by clocking his best time of 1:12.574. De La Rosa would be really happy with his time. He dropped his position as Mclaren test driver and his attempt with Sauber has proven fruitful. Sauber managed to put up a good show claiming the second fastest time.

7 time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher started his session in the afternoon and proved to the world that he can still drive fast. He posted a time that was just less than half a second off Massa’s best lap in his Mercedes GP. This is the lap of someone who hasn’t driven a F1 car properly in over two years. Nico Rosberg drove the W01 in the morning and posted his time which was off the pace. Considering that this was his first drive, he has taken it easy. Interestingly, Mclaren ran their test driver Gary Paffett rather than Button or Hamilton. He came fifth.

Scuderia Torro Rosso, who are driving their own car this year posted 1:14.762, behind Rubens Barrichello in the Williams. Torro Rosso completed just 18 laps after they faced a problem with their gearbox. STR better get it corrected ASAP. Kubica ended the lineup after his Renault R30 ran 88 laps as a mark of checking reliability and acclimatizing to the car. Find the time sheets below. For more detailed analysis, visit www.f1.com

Unofficial Monday test times from Valencia:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:12.574, 102 Laps
2. Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber, 1:12.784, 74 Laps
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:12.947, 40 Laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:13.543, 39 Laps
5. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:13.846, 86 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:14.449, 75 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:14.762, 18 Laps
8. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:15.000, 69 Laps