The F1 Reader

Jerez, Day 1: Grosjean and Lotus fastest in the morning

Romain Grosjean set the early morning pace in Jerez with a 1:19.796s  beating Paul di Resta in the Force India and Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso. 

It was a quick start to the first test in Jerez this morning, as cars were popping out for system checks, which is a common way to start pre-season testing. Three laps in and we already had our first red flag. Jenson Button's McLaren stopped on track due to a fuel pump issue, and the team didn't go out for the rest of the morning. 

Jerez, Day 1: Button's car came to a halt after three laps.

Mercedes also had a problem with Nico Rosberg. The car's rear end burst out in flames and had to stop on track which caused the second red flag of the session. Lotus also faced their series of problems with Grosjean completing only 15 laps in the beginning due to a heating issue on the bodywork. The team revealed later that it was a mild problem and the Frenchman came out banging for pace. 

Jerez, Day 1: Rosberg's car catches fire during installation run

Caterham and Marussia launched their cars during testing as the newcomers made their debut with Max Chilton and Van der Garde running 21 laps. 

Williams were running with last year's car, although the front and rear wings, as well as the nose were relatively new. As their car wasn't subject to any system checks, they ran the most laps in favor of testing new aerodynamic elements. Their new car will debut in Barcelona. 

Ferrari and Red Bull kept a relatively low profile, with Felipe Massa a second off the pace and Mark Webber two seconds slower. The big teams are not known for showing off with fast times in testing, so their pace was not at all worrying or uncommon.

Short runs were the main theme this morning. Most cars opted for 4 to 5 laps per run, pitting, doing system checks, and going out for another burst of 5 laps. The longest run was Mark Webber's, the Australian doing a string of 11 laps. Track temperature peaked at 30 degrees Celsius, with air temperature around 15 degrees, which is pretty much what we'll get for the rest of the day.  

Reading too much into these times is completely worthless. The first day of testing is usually dedicated to system and reliability checks. Making sure that the new cars are safe to run is the first step of testing. Later on, teams will focus on understanding the new Pirelli tyres and testing the new aerodynamic elements. We will get only half of the full picture of who stands where in Barcelona.