Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel beat Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to set the pace on the first day of the pre-season test at Spain's Circuit de Catalunya.
The world champion spent much of the day in the garage but he clocked a lap of one minute 24.374 seconds in a late run to beat Alonso by 1.111 seconds. Englishman Jenson Button was nearly two seconds back in fifth for McLaren.
Scot Paul di Resta finished sixth overall for Force India, with Michael Schumacher eighth in a Mercedes.
Overnight rain in Barcelona meant the teams' first foray on the familiar Circuit de Catalunya, home of the Spanish Grand Prix, was in damp conditions.
While the teams took the opportunity to try out Pirelli's intermediate tyres, the times did not start tumbling until a dry line began to appear around lunchtime.
Once it did - and the cars had slick tyres fitted - Jamie Alguersuari's Toro Rosso and Button took turns at the top before being toppled by Alonso.
 | We had a long break, longer than we expected, but we got some runs in at the end and the car felt good Sebastian Vettel Red Bull driver and world champion |
The Spaniard, who was courted by fans waving banners bearing his name, set to work and soon set his fastest time in the middle of a five-lap run.
While Ferrari were ominously reliable, with Alonso clocking more than 100 laps, Vettel was conspicuously quiet and Red Bull revealed they had opened up his car for some precautionary checks over lunch.
The 23-year-old returned to the track as the late afternoon sun bathed the grandstands and quickly took over at the top with a spell of furious laps, setting his best time on his first lap out of the box.
"We had a long break," said Vettel, who completed just 37 laps. "Longer than we expected.
"Nothing actually broke but at a test if there are a few things that you think might be a problem then you take the car apart and have a look.
 Alonso's Ferrari was fastest for much of the day |
McLaren were also encouraged by a steady period of running after a lack of spare parts, and other niggling problems, had hampered last week's first test with the 2011 car in Jerez.
Renault, who have twice topped the testing timesheets, reported problems with their kinetic energy recovery system (Kers) although Nick Heidfeld had a decent run in the morning before Vitaly Petrov took over for 20 laps later in the day.
Heidfeld who was announced on Wednesday as the stand-in for the injured Robert Kubica, said it was much too early to learn how competitive Renault were, particularly as he finished bottom of the timings.
The first stoppage of the day came just before the scheduled lunch break when Rubens Barrichello's Williams stopped out on track which forced an engine change.
Kamui Kobayashi took his Sauber off track but there was no major damage to the car and he went on to set the fourth fastest time of the day.
Alguersuari also had his day interrupted by a spill into the gravel but the Toro Rosso was able to return to the track before the session ended.
Formula 1 test, Circuit de Catalunya, day one, fastest times:
1. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault one minute 24.374 seconds
2. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:25.485
3. Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:25.638
4. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:25.641
5 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.365
6 Paul de Resta (GB) Force India-Mercedes 1:26.575
7 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Williams-Cosworth 1:26.912
8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:27.512
9 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Hispania-Cosworth 1:28.393
10 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:30.065
11 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.950
12 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:35.174
13 Nick HEIDFELD DEU Lotus Renault GP 1:44.324
Robert Kubica Update:
As Renault confirmed Nick Heidfeld as his stand-in for the start of the 2011 season on Wednesday, Robert Kubica was busy recuperating from a third operation. The Polish driver remains in intensive care at Italy’s Santa Corona Hospital as he continues to recover from the serious injuries he sustained in a rally crash almost a fortnight ago.
Following an initial operation on his right forearm, Kubica underwent a second bout of surgery on his foot, shoulder, humerus, and anterior elbow last Friday. Wednesday’s third operation treated the complex fracture to his elbow.
“The operation lasted eight hours in order to stabilise and reconstruct the damaged fragments of the delicate joint structure,” explained the Renault team in a statement. “At the end of the surgery, the doctors were pleased with the outcome, with the procedure being completed successfully.”
Kubica will stay in intensive care for the next few days.
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