Ferrari Fastest in Testing

The 2010 Formula One season is off to a flying start. Though not the actual races, but testing of the team's cars got underway at Valencia. This is the three day testing that all teams will be going through, and it gives all the drivers a chance to get used to the cars that will be on the grid this season.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa came out strongest with the best timing of 1 minute 12.574 seconds, at the end of the day. Pedro De La Rosa of BMW Sauber was second fastest. And hold your breath, the legend, 7 time world champion, Michael Schumacher from Mercedes, who has just come out of retirement, was third fastest. In fact, Schumi managed to clock a time more than a whole second faster than the other Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

Massa was more than pleased with what he saw and got with the new Ferrari car. He said, "It has more grip than the 2009 car. When you have more grip you also have much more fun driving. I ran some 100 laps but I could have gone for 200. No physical problems. It went beyond expectations. From what we have seen we are going in the right direction, but of course we know there is still a lot of work to do." Rosberg was excited about driving alongside a legend like Schumacher. He said, "For me, to have him here is a great thing, fantastic. It has given me a little bit of extra motivation. My relationship with him is very good. I get on well with him. We respect each other and I think we will be great teammates. There will be a few things I'll be able to pick up from him as he is one of the best that has ever driven." Michael Schumacher also seemed pleased with his stint. He went on to say, "It was a perfect rollout for the new car today. I felt totally comfortable and really had a feeling that everything was very natural. It felt just like at the very beginning of my career in 1991 when on the first lap, I thought wow that was really fast, and then on the second lap, I was extremely excited. I feel just like a young boy again and really enjoyed myself. We did a good job today, making a few control checks, and the most important thing was that the car ran reliably. With Nico and I covering 79 laps today, it was a superb job by the team."

The testing was also beneficial for the drivers due to the fact that all the new cars are longer this year. Reason being, the fuel tanks are bigger, because now mid-race refueling is not allowed. Also read Formula One Rules Being Revamped. Regarding this aspect, Massa had this to say, "When you look in the rear view mirrors and you realize how far away the rear wheels are compared to what they used to be. We have to be careful when we overtake another car not to pull back too sharply."

Over the next 2 days, the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso would be getting their first feel of the testing, for this year's season.