Kimi Raikkonen went fastest on the first day of his Ferrari return as only six drivers set times on the opening day to Formula 1 2014 pre-season testing. The Finn leapfrogged Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes one hour before the end of the session, with the Briton crashing into the Turn 1 barriers earlier today.
Hamilton had previously been the first man to go out on track and the first man to set a competitive time, and was more than five seconds clear at the head of the timesheets when he suffered the accident.
At the time of Hamilton’s crash, which came at midday, Jean-Eric Vergne had been Hamilton’s closest challenger in terms of both lap count and time, even if his deficit was sizeable. He ended up fifth despite a mechanical problem on his STR9 later on.
In contrast, Red Bull’s reigning champion Sebastian Vettel managed just three installation laps in the final minutes of the day, while McLaren failed to partake in the day’s running due to a ‘hydraulic and electrical installation problem’ on the new MP4-29.
Jerez test, Day One timesheet:
1. Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:27.104, 31 laps.
2. Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:27.820, 18 laps.
3. Bottas, Williams, 1:30.082, 7 laps.
4. Perez, Force India, 1.33:161, 11 laps.
5. Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:36.530, 15 laps.
6. Gutierrez, Sauber, 1:42.257, 7 laps.
7. Vettel, Red Bull, No time, 3 laps.
8. Ericsson, Caterham, No time, 1 lap.
9. Button, McLaren, No time, 0 laps.