Webber tops first day of testing at Barcelona
Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber
Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber has topped the timesheets on Day 1 of the final pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The champion team enjoyed a largely trouble-free outing at the Barcelona track, beating McLaren’s Jenson Button convincingly.
“It was a pretty good day and not much has changed since last week,” a confident Webber said.
“We got some good laps in today. I think everybody is limited by tyres – we don’t have unlimited sets of tyres these days, so the mileage is a bit controlled by how many you have at your disposal. But, all in all, we had a good afternoon and got some good information.”
The only time that Webber’s fastest lap looked under threat was in the final moments of the session when Sauber driver Sergio Perez skipped a chicane in the final sector. The Mexican’s 1m21.176s was deleted from the unofficial times (below).
Mercedes, Williams, Ferrari and Hispania elected not to go out in the first day of testing. All four teams will appear tomorrow.
For Red Bull, reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel will take over test duties tomorrow, as the team continues its preparations for the season-opening race in Melbourne (March 24-27).
| Pos | Driver | Team/Car | Time |
| 1. | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1m22.544s |
| 2. | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m22.910s |
| 3. | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1m22.937s |
| 4. | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m24.117s |
| 5. | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1m24.735s |
| 6. | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1m25.039s |
| 7. | Davide Valsecchi | Lotus-Renault | 1m25.406s |
| 8. | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m26.004s |
| 9. | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1m26.030s |
| 10. | Luiz Razia | Lotus-Renault | 1m26.723s |
| 11. | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m32.060s |