The Early Pace Setters

F1 practice is well underway with Hamilton driving this years new car.

Todays Jerez results:

1 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one minute, 20.709 seconds
2 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1:21.483
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.522
4 Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) Toro Rosso 1:21.755
5 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:21.914
6 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 1:22.689
7 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:23.472
8 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Lotus 1:23.504
9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:23.963
10 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus 1:24.458
11 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:25.086
12 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:34.968

Jenson Button will take over driving duties for McLaren on Friday when Michael Schumacher is in for Mercedes.

Michael Schumacher responded to concerns about the pace of the new Mercedes by setting the fastest time of the second day of testing at Jerez today.

The seven-time champion recorded a lap of one minute 20.352 seconds to head Ferrari's Felipe Massa by 0.061secs.

After a slow start, Jenson Button moved up to third fastest in the new McLaren, ahead of Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari and Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Its still early days and a lot of testing is still to be carried out. But here are todays best lap times:

1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes one minute 20.352 seconds
2 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:20.413
3 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.009
4 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.214
5 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:21.613
6 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:21.780
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.857
8 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth 1:22.208
9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:22.493
10 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Cosworth 1:22.591
11 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus-Renault 1:23.216

What a start by Nick Heidfeld as he steps in for Robert Kubicaon on day 3.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was the long-time pace-setter but Heidfeld beat him by 0.132 seconds late in the afternoon.

However, One insider at a top team told BBC Sport that while it was hard to be definitive about comparative pace because of the differences to lap times created by fuel loads and tyres, Ferrari appeared to have a slight advantage over Red Bull at the moment as the team with the fastest car.

Other sources agree that the Red Bull and Ferrari are the two quickest cars, but say the Red Bull has a significant speed advantage over longer runs.

Day 3 Jerez results:

1 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault one minute 20.361 seconds
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:20.493
3 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:21.054
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.099
5 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.242
6 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:21.574
7 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.681
8 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:21.711
9 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Williams-Cosworth 1:22.227
10 Paul di Resta (GB) Force India-Mercedes 1:22.945
11 Jerome D'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.471

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9395581.stm

so the final day has been and gone and Williams veteran Rubens Barrichello closed the Jerez test by setting the fastest time on the final day.

His lap of one minute, 19.832 seconds was 1.242 seconds faster than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and two seconds beyond Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.

McLaren failed to set the times alight at their first test with the 2011 car with Jenson Button ninth on Sunday.

The teams continue their pre-season preparations in Barcelona's four-day test which begins on Friday.

Day four Jerez fastest times:

1 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Williams-Cosworth one minute 19.832 seconds
2 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:20.601
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:21.074
4 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.213
5 Bruno Senna (Brz) Renault 1:21.400
6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Team Lotus-Renault 1:21.632
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:22.103
8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:22.222
9 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.278
10 Jerome D'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin-Cosworth 1:22.985
11 Paul Di Resta (GB) Force India-Mercedes 1:23.111

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9396240.stm

The times don't mean a thing. There are to many variables to think about. I have been to so many test days and not once have the times really meant anything.

Thats true, but one thing that springs out from these 4 days is the consistancy and reliability of the Ferrari.
A sign of things to come this season? Definately a good start so far.