Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) set the quickest time on the first day of the final pre-season test window at Barcelona overnight. An extra test program has been added to the pre-season schedule to make up for the delayed and possible cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The teams have already been to Barcelona this off-season, but Webber’s overnight time of 1m22.544s is the fastest set on the Circuit de Catalunya so far in 2011. Webber posted the time during a short qualifying-like simulation before settling in to longer stints later in the day where he was circulating in the 1m27s–1m28s range.
Close behind the Australian were Jenson Button (McLaren, 1m22.910s), Vitaly Petrov (Renault, 1m22.937s) and Sergio Perez (Sauber, 1m24.117s). In fact, Perez posted a faster time than Webber, but it was discounted because he cut the chicane.
Despite setting the second fastest time overnight, Jenson Button expects McLaren will face a tough challenge when the season starts in Australia later this month, “I would be surprised if we can really match the Red Bull and the Ferrari when we get to Melbourne.
“We will see with more set-up work this week how close we can get to them. But to be on their pace for the first race is very tricky.”
In contrast, Webber can’t wait to get to Melbourne, “You can always do with more time—but I feel we are ready to go now and get into it.
“You always learn more when you go racing about your strengths and weaknesses as a team. That comes from pace, reliability, pitstops, organisation, Saturdays/Sundays, the whole thing. So the whole weekend needs to be tested shortly and we will go from there. We are only a few days away from that.”
Mark also dismissed speculation the Red Bulls have not shown their true pace during pre-season testing, “I would love to be able to say that. There is not enough time to play games with yourself, let alone other people.”
[Source: Autosport | Pic: Pirelli]
2 replies on “Webber fastest on first day of Barcelona testing”
interesting how long the front wing endplate is in that photo, given the concentration on it last year.
encouraging, but i dont think vettel was out on day 1. he ran in the 1.21s today. Looks like vettel will be his nemesis again this year. let’s hope mark can put him in his place.