Nico Rosberg and Mercedes finished at the top of the timesheets as pre-season testing continued in Jerez on Wednesday. Following three Ferrari-led days in Valencia last week, Fernando Alonso was fourth for the Maranello team as Red Bull, Force India and Virgin Racing all debuted their new cars in the rain.
Rain had been expected to affect at least two days of this week's Jerez test although the ten teams present in Andalucía were able to make use a dry track for no more than a single hour on Wednesday. It was an earlier start than usual as Red Bull Racing revealed its 2010 contender, the RB6, in the pit lane at 8:30am.
With the green light on half an hour later, Mark Webber was immediately out on-track in order to rack up the first miles for Red Bull this year; the day turned out to be a disappointing one for the Milton Keynes squad as, following the first rain drops at 10am, the Australian ground to a halt at 12:30pm. "It was just an oil leak, nothing major," Mark explained to reporters. "I'm not sure if it was engine or hydraulics."
Although the two-time race winner was optimistic about rejoining, it wouldn't be until 4:45pm - a quarter of an hour until the conclusion of the session - that the Renault-powered car would be back out on-track, following much work by the mechanics which involved removing the floor of the car.
Red Bull's first day was compounded yet further when the session was stopped for a second (this time permanent) time when the leading Mercedes of Rosberg - whose fastest lap was 1:20.927 - stopped on-track with just under ten minutes to go, resulting in a premature end to the day.
Sébastien Buemi and Nico Hülkenberg's times moved Toro Rosso and Williams up the order, ahead of Ferrari as Fernando Alonso's best of 1:22.895 was almost two seconds off the leading pace. The Scuderia rescheduled garage work - which had been due for the lunch hour - forward in the hope that the rain would ease off although the showers had only become heavier by the time of the first restart after Webber's stoppage.
The lack of sunshine in Jerez was also making the job of tyre analysis difficult on a circuit at which Bridgestone hopes to evaluate in greater detail the performance of the rear tyres, due to the more abrasive surface offered at Jerez in comparison to Valencia. However, with the rain coupled by much cloud cover, ambient temperatures remained in the early teens (52-59°F).
Kobayashi, Champion Button, Liuzzi and Petrov filled positions fifth to eighth as McLaren experimented with a sensor fitted to the left-hand side of the car's cockpit; the device measured the airflow on Button's MP4-25 in order to allow the team to compare results with the airflow structures seen in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). The rear wing of the Renault featured a black gurney flap, a common sight in testing, in order to increase downforce and allow for specific data collection.
With their Cosworth-powered engine having been fired up at around 12:50pm, Virgin Racing made their first ever public on-track appearance as Timo Glock pulled out of the pit lane for a single installation lap ten minutes later. The German returned to the garage until 3:30pm, when another short outing preceded his third run and the setting his first fastest lap of the day just before 4pm. Timo, dramatically slowed by the wet track, finished tenth and last of the runners behind Webber, who wrapped up a difficult session ninth on the timesheets.
Day 2 of 4 at Jerez will commence at 9am local time on Thursday (GMT +1)
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