The second day of testing in Valencia got underway in cold and sunny conditions this morning and Felipe Massa quickly moved to the top of the timesheets with a best time of 1:11.722s, eight-tenths up on his own best recorded on Monday.
Ferrari reports that Massa is happy with the early running of the F10, even with the newer narrow Bridgestone front tyres that invite unwanted understeer. The Brazilian also tried out the latest all-black carbon fibre crash helmet on offer from Schubert ahead of the lunch break.
Kamui Kobayashi had his first run in the new Sauber Ferrari as was an encouraging second fastest while Lewis Hamilton has his first run in the new McLaren Mercedes. Interestingly, flow visualisation paint - commonly used by the team as it struggled to get last year’s MP4-24 contender up to speed - is back in evidence on the MP4-25 challenger. Hamilton was third fastest.
Nico Rosberg is the sole Mercedes driver on track today, having shared the new MGP W01 with Michael Schumacher on Monday. The German racer posted the fourth best time ahead of Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica and Sebastien Buemi.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | Massa | Ferrari F10 | 1:11.722 | +0.000 | 56 |
| 02. | Kobayashi | Sauber C29 | 1:12.056 | +0.334 | 29 |
| 03. | Hamilton | McLaren MP4-25 | 1:12.508 | +0.786 | 50 |
| 04. | Rosberg | Mercedes GP W01 | 1:12.899 | +1.177 | 41 |
| 05. | Barrichello | Williams FW32 | 1:13.377 | +1.655 | 45 |
| 06. | Kubica | Renault R30 | 1:13.659 | +1.937 | 59 |
| 07. | Buemi | Toro Rosso STR5 | 1:14.862 | +3.140 | 41 |