Spanish GP, Free Practice 1: Alonso leads Vettel

In the first practice session of the Spanish GP, Ferrari demonstrated the value of its updates, setting the fastest time with the Asturian host.

The changes tested at Mugello and introduced on the Montmelò track in Barcelona apparently paid off: Alonso lapped in 1'24”430 and preceded Sebastian Vettel with the Red Bull by 378 thousandths. Alonso was in the pits for a long time, coming out only half an hour before the end of FP1 and running on hard tyres, like all the other drivers. In the end, Ferrari completed 20 laps, two more than the world champion. Surprise third place for Kamui Kobayashi with Sauber: the Japanese finished 482 thousandths behind the Ferrari driver and one tenth behind Vettel, demonstrating that the Swiss team has also introduced a good package of updates.

Fourth place instead for the first of the McLarens, that of Jenson Button: the Englishman tested the new raised nose that had been announced in recent days, finishing 566 thousandths from the top and 130 thousandths ahead of the other surprise of the day, the Williams test driver Vatteri Bottas. The Finn in turn preceded Michael Schumacher with the first Mercedes, 757 thousandths behind Alonso, and then Romain Grosjean with the Lotus, three hundredths behind the German. Same gap also between Lewis Hamilton, eighth with McLaren at 822 thousandths, and Kimi Raikkonen with the second Lotus, while the Top 10 is closed by Nico Hulkenbeng with Force India, nine tenths behind the leader. Of note is Felipe Massa's 12th place in the second F2012, exactly one second behind his teammate, and two other big names behind him at 1: Mark Webber with Red Bull and Nico Rosberg with Mercedes. Finally, another fire problem for Sergio Perez's Sauber: after the Mugello tests, when a plastic covering caught fire, the Mexican was also the victim of a smoke leak in Barcelona. Even in this case there were no consequences. Testing will resume this afternoon at 1pm.

Lorena Bianchi

Here are the FP1 times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.430 20 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.808s + 0.378 18 3. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.912s + 0.482 28 4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.996. 0.566s + 24 5 1. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 25.120m0.690s + 24 6 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 25.187m0.757s + 15 7 1. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 25.217m0.787s + 16 8 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 25.252m0.822 20. 9s + 1 25.285 0.855. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 29m10s + 1 25.339 0.909. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 24m11s + 1 25.367 0.937. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 22m12s + 1 25.433 1.003. Felipe Massa Ferrari 21m13s + 1 25.539 1.109. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 23m14s + 1 25.607 1.177. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 20m15s + 1 25.918 1.488. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 19m16s + 1 26.226 1.796. Daniel Ricci I burn Toro Rosso-Ferrari 24m17s + 1 26.297 1.867. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 18m18s + 1 26.630 2.200. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 21m19s + 1 27.475 3.045. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 20m20s + 1 28.267 3.837 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 21m1s + 28.448 4.018 25. Alexander Rossi Caterham-Renault 22m1s + 28.633 4.203 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 23m1s + 29.107 4.677 19. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 24m1 .31.618s + 7.188 19 XNUMX. Dani Clos HRT-Cosworth XNUMXmXNUMXs + XNUMX XNUMX