Testing Spain

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World champion Sebastian Vettel fired an early warning shot to those seeking to snatch his title as he topped the opening day of 2011 winter testing at Valencia.

The German not only completed 93 trouble-free laps in the brand new Red Bull-Renault RB7 at the Spanish track, but also led the way with a 1m13.769s lap.

That put him 0.1s clear of Force India's new reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg, who only ran in the morning session for his new employer, but still topped the times for a long while as he settled in.

Hulkenberg, third-placed McLaren test driver Gary Paffett, and Force India's new racer Paul di Resta in fourth were all using their 2010 cars still, so the nearest 2011 machine to Red Bull's pace was Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

The Spaniard was quickest for a while, but ended up 0.7s adrift of Vettel's time, and caused a late red flag when he stopped on track at turn three, though he was eventually able to bring himself back to the pits.

Kamui Kobayashi was sixth in the new Sauber, while Virgin had its most competitive day yet, as Jerome D'Ambrosio put its 2010 machine in seventh place.

Renault kept a relatively low-profile, as Vitaly Petrov and the radical new black and gold car covered just 28 laps and were back in eighth.

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Unofficial Times:
01. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:13.307s 108 laps
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Renault 1:13.614s +0.307 43 laps
03. Paul di Resta Di Resta Force India Mercedes 1:13.844s +0.537 111 laps
04. Leiws Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:14.353s +1.046 83 laps
05. Robert Kubica Renault 1:14.412s +1.105 104 laps
06. Narain Karthikeyan HRT Cosworth 1:14.472s +1.165 80 laps
07. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.645s +1.338 69 laps
08. Timo Glock Virgin Cosworth 1:15.408s +2.101 34 laps
09. Rubens Barrichello Williams Cosworth 1:16.023s +2.716 51 laps
10. Sergio Perez Sauber Ferrari 1:16.198s +2.891 42 laps
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams Cosworth 1:16.266s +2.959 29 laps
12. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:16.359s +3.052 46 laps
13. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:16.474s +3.167 64 laps
14. Mark Webber Red Bull Renault 1:17.365s +4.058 17 laps
15. Hiekki Kovalainen Lotus Renault 1:20.649s +7.342 15 laps

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Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were happy after the first run of the new W02 in Valencia despite running of the car being limited by a hydraulic problem.

Rosberg was given the honour of running the first laps in the car, but was sidelined by the problem after managing just nine laps. It means he will now need to wait until Wednesday to get his first proper taste of the car but Rosberg said his initial impressions were that the car will be a step forward compared to the W01 it replaces.

“The good thing is that I felt completely at home and comfortable in the williepit straight away this morning,” he said. “Initial impressions are very difficult to make as we’ve now changed to the Pirelli tyres but the feeling was very good. It just feels like a better car in general and it will be good to have a full day to really make progress tomorrow.”

After the hydraulic issue had been fixed, Schumacher managed 15 laps before running came to an end and wile he was only ninth quickest, the seven-time champion was happy to have had chance to sample the car for the first time.

“It has always been and is still very special to go out in a new car for the first time, and I very much enjoyed today even if it was just a few laps that we could do,” he said. “Maybe you could sum it up with: interesting but short! It was mainly about doing a few system checks today and I am looking forward to the laps to come. All in all, I am very happy after today’s launch of our new baby, and I can’t wait for the season to start.”

Despite being off the outright pace during the opening day of testing this year, team principal Ross Brawn wasn’t concerned as the team focuses on reliability – albeit unsuccessfully on the first day for the car - and system checks before chasing outright performance.