It's back to work for F1! Barcelona Day 1 Round Up
By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
November 13 2007
It was back to work for Formula 1 as the sport gears up for the 2008 Season. There was some new faces as well as a return of a legend. For Toyota, Race driver Jarno Trulli was in action with out going test driver Franck Montangy joining Jarno for the first day.
A field of 20 drivers took to the Spanish circuit and Jarno and Franck finished 9th and 12th respectively. Jarno setting a time of 1.23.624 and Franck a time of 1.23.861. But the biggest story of today came in the form of a legend returning to the cockpit. Michael Schumacher was back in action at the wheel of the title winning Ferrari F2007 and even better for us to watch and for the media to have a field day about, he was quickest! Setting a time of 1:21.922 ahead of Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer. Mclaren are on the hunt for a new driver after Double World Champion left the team a couple of weeks ago, and two of the men in the race to replace him were third and fourth. Pedro De La Rosa was third for Mclaren ahead of 2007 Renault race driver Heikki Kovalainen who was in action for the French outfit was fourth. 1:22.883 was the time set by fifth plae Robert Kubica for BMW-Sauber with former DTM Champion and Mclaren test driver Gary Paffet rounding out the top six. Kazuki Nakajima made his race debut for Williams at the Brazilian Grand Prix of the 2007 Season and last week was confirmed as the full time race driver for the Toyota powered team for 2008. he finished the day in 7th place ahead of British veteran David Coulthard in the Red Bull Racing car. Jarno and BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld rouned out the top 10. Nico Rosberg was 11th in the second Williams car ahead of Montagny and Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel was 13th. GP2 Star Andreas Zuber made his Honda F1 debut and finished in a rspectable 14th place with 1:24.065 beinghis best time. 4 Time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastian Bourdais made his first appearance as a F1 race driver for the Toro Rosso team. He finished the day in 15th place on a 1.24.193. Super Aguri had two British drivers fielded with race driver Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter both finishing 16th and 17th. Three Rookies rounded up out the field. Indian GP2 Star Karun Chandhok recieved a Red Bull Racing call up and finished in 18th place on a time of 1.24.896 whilst the second rookie came in team form. Force India F1 made their debut with Giedo Van Der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez were at the wheel for the new team both taking the final two spots in 19th and 20th. Over the test Force India will test with former Red Bull backed drivers Christian Klien and Tonio Liuzzi evaluating the possibility of a race drive. Former Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher is also tipped to test at a later point wih rumours that Giancarlo Fisichella will also join the team for a test. It seems Force India are in demand... Barcelona Test Day 1 1 M. Schumacher Ferrari 01:21.922
2 L. Badoer Ferrari 01:22.129
3 P. de la Rosa McLaren 01:22.687
4 H. Kovalainen Renault 01:22.802
5 R. Kubica BMW 01:22.883
6 G. Paffett McLaren 01:23.008
7 K. Nakajima Williams 01:23.187
8 D. Coulthard Red Bull 01:23.332
9 J. Trulli Toyota 01:23.624
10 N. Heidfeld BMW 01:23.671
11 N. Rosberg Williams 01:23.847
12 F. Montagny Toyota 01:23.861
13 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:24.048
14 A. Zuber Honda 01:24.065
15 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:24.193
16 A. Davidson Super Aguri 01:24.246
17 J. Rossiter Super Aguri 01:24.480
18 K. Chandhok Red Bull 01:24.896
19 G. van der Garde Force India F1 01:25.317
20 Roldan Rodriguez Force India F1 01:26.973