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Valencia Test: Alonso ups the pace

As he concludes his first test session of the year

By

2 February 2011 - 17:34

The Formula One field enjoyed a nice and sunny day at Valencia today, as it completed its second day of testing of the year.

Having been outpaced by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel yesterday and this morning, Fernando Alonso reacted and set the fastest time of the afternoon. The Spaniard thus concluded his first test session of the year in great fashion. His teammate Felipe Massa will take over at the wheel tomorrow.

Vettel was second fastest, with di Resta third fastest. Hamilton and Kubica completed the top five.

The Mercedes MGP W02 had another mechanical problem early in the afternoon. The new Lotus also had technical problems. Heikki Kovalainen did a number of installation laps but power steering problems forced the team to call it a day at 3.30pm. Some new parts will be built at the factory overnight and sent to Valencia early tomorrow morning.

In the course of the afternoon, Sébastien Buemi took over at the wheel of the Toro Rosso STR6 from his teammate Jaime Alguersuari. Maldonado at Williams and Webber at Red Bull also got their first taste of their team’s new cars.

Narain Karthikeyan posted an impressive sixth fastest time with the 2010 HRT car.

Fastest lap times of the day:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Lap times	Gap	Laps
01	F. Alonso	Ferrari F150	1.13.307		108
02	S. Vettel	Red Bull RB7	1.13.614	+0.307	43
03	P. di Resta	Force India VJM03	1.13.844	+0.537	111
04	L. Hamilton	McLaren MP4-25	1.14.353	+1.046	83
05	R. Kubica	Lotus Renault R31	1.14.412	+1.105	104
06	N. Karthikeyan	HRT F110	1.14.472	+1.165	80
07	N. Rosberg	Mercedes GP W02	1.14.645	+1.338	69
08	T. Glock	Virgin VR-01	1.15.408	+2.101	34
09	R. Barrichello	Williams FW33	1.16.023	+2.716	51
10	S. Perez	Sauber C30	1.16.198	+2.891	42
11	P. Maldonado	Williams FW33	1.16.266	+2.959	29
12	S. Buemi	Toro Rosso STR6	1.16.359	+3.052	46
13	J. Alguersuari	Toro Rosso STR6	1.16.474	+3.167	64
14	M. Webber	Red Bull RB7	1.17.365	+4.058	12
15	H. Kovalainen	Team Lotus T128	1.20.649	+7.342	15