Mugello, Day 1: Alonso fastest in morning session on drying track

After a highly competitive and unpredictable opening four races of the 2012 season, the Formula 1 fraternity have now begun the first in-season test since 2008 at Italy’s Mugello circuit. Fernando Alonso came out on top in the morning session on day one, on a drying track after heavy overnight rain.

As the day began many of the competing drivers’ exited the pits and completed their installation laps, reminiscent of a Friday practice session during a Grand Prix weekend. However, due to the wet track it was well over 30 minutes before the first timed lap was set. Lotus opted to make some alterations to their car as the track dried out, with bodywork being taken off the E20 to allow the mechanics to make tweaks to the car.

Eventually the first timed lap of the day was set by the Marussia of Charles Pic, with a 01:56.595. No sooner had the Frenchman set this time before it was beaten by reigning GP3 Champion and Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas. The Finn has made numerous appearances during Friday practice sessions’ throughout 2012, and will hand the Williams over to Bruno Senna tomorrow.

The first red flag of the day was caused shortly after these initial times were set as Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne embedded his car into the gravel at turn 2. With the track still relatively damp in places, Pirelli’s Cinturato full wets and intermediates were the tyres of choice early on.

Fernando Alonso then gave the Tifosi something to cheer about, as the Ferrari driver went quickest with a 01:37.670. The Italian’s joy was short-lived as the Spaniard caused the second red flag of the day, stopping on track at turn 8. Nico Rosberg also stopped on track at turn 4 in a separate incident.

As the track returned to green after the Mercedes and Ferrari were cleared, the Lotus of Jerome D’Ambrosio went fastest with 01:37.539 before bettering his time to a 01:36.980 a lap later. In a day which featured many reserve drivers’, Valtteri Bottas brought his Williams back to the top shortly after with a 01:35.904.

With the track quickly starting to dry out, times began to naturally tumble as drivers’ began sampling dry rubber. This saw Fernando Alonso, Jean Eric Vergne and Kamui Kobayashi all go top throughout the morning before the Ferrari of Alonso eventually returned to the top with a 01:23.947, which he capitalized on with an even quicker 01:22.444 before the lunch interval.

Mark Webber currently sits 2nd for Red Bull after a relatively quiet morning period, with the McLaren of Oliver Turvey currently 7th. For the afternoon period, Gary Paffett will step into the McLaren and Michael Schumacher will take over driving duties at Mercedes. With a much drier track, quicker times are expected when track action resumes at 2pm local time (1pm BST).

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1

Times at 1pm CET: