F1: Webber Leads On Damp Day In Barcelona

Mark Webber became the ninth driver to top the charts on as many preseason test days...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 28, 2013 Barcelona (ESP)

Mark Webber drives in the wet on Thursday in Barcelona. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Mark Webber finished the first day of the third and final winter test in Barcelona on top of the times by a huge margin of 1.6 seconds.

However, it was a far from a normal day, as it was wet until the final part of the afternoon, when drivers were able to switch to slicks, and not everyone had the opportunity to go for a fast lap.

Webber banged in his fastest time right at the end to become the ninth driver to lead the nine 2013 sessions, a stat that shows just how hard it is to draw too many conclusions.

"There was a big tailwind down to Turn One," Webber said of the Barcelona course. "And in other sections it was pretty dusty. The level of wind wasn’t trivial but, to be honest, it was tricky enough anyway because of the greasy conditions on the track. We only got one hour at the end of the day in more stable conditions. We opted to put on a couple of sets of tires at the end and see how it went, and it was OK. We’ve still got more to come, but that was the most we could get done in a short limited program in dry conditions at the end of the day.”

Behind Webber, Lewis Hamilton was second fastest for Mercedes after enjoying himself in the wet over the course of the day.

“The track started out really wet this morning but thankfully the conditions dried out later on and we were able to complete some proper running,” said Hamilton. “It felt good to work through the race simulation this afternoon; both to get myself back in practice and to put valuable miles on the car.

“I’m really happy that we’re making progress together, and very much enjoying working with everyone. The last couple of days of preseason testing are always really exciting when everyone starts to add their upgrades, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.”

Jean-Eric Vergne set the third-fastest time for Toro Rosso, although the conditions meant that several big players did not show their true form.

“Not the best of days, because we had many things to test and the rain meant we were not able to get that much done,” said the Frenchman. “But we have to remember that the other teams have similar programs and the rain affects everyone. Nevertheless, I did plenty of laps, which is good for me and good for the new car to do a high mileage. The car seems to behave really well in the wet, and it also felt good in the dry during the few laps I managed at the end of the day.”

Newcomer Valtteri Bottas was fourth in the Williams.

“It was a good day overall and we had no problems with the car,” said the Finn. “It’s a shame we were disrupted a bit by the wet weather, although this did allow us to run on the wet, intermediate and dry tires. I clocked up a lot of mileage for myself and was able to get more experience driving in difficult conditions. It was cold, wet and windy all day, and particularly slippery on track this morning.”

Sergio Perez was fifth fastest for McLaren, ahead of the Sauber of countryman Esteban Gutierrez and Paul Di Resta.

Felipe Massa stopped on track shortly before the end of the session and thus missed the driest conditions, ending up eighth. Romain Grosjean didn’t run at the end of the day and the Lotus driver finished at the bottom of the times in 11th.

“Another day with bad weather in Barcelona is not what I wanted,” he said. “But there’s nothing you can do about it. It was a bit of a frustrating day, as we concentrated on aero runs and never went for a time on the drying track surface.

“The car feels good on both the intermediate and wet tires and we’ve run through more of our preseason test program, so those are positives. You never want to see yourself at the bottom of the timing screens, so hopefully that’s the only time it happens this season. We certainly know there’s more pace in the car than we saw today!”

Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:22.693 90
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.348 113
3. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:25.017 59
4. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.458 85
5. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:26.538 100
6. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:26.574 92
7. Paul Di Resta Sahara Force India 1:27.107 57
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:27.541 112
9. Max Chilton Marussia 1:28.166 78
10. Charles Pic Caterham 1:28.644 83
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:34.928 52

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.