First to Spain, where Williams and Spyker are testing on their own. Nico Rosberg led the way in his Williams, fitting in 105 laps around the track and recording a best time of 1:21.624. Rosberg was testing a new aerodynamic package and is seems to be doing the trick. Following him was Alex Wurz in his FW29 with the second fastest time of the day. Spyker put 4 drivers out on the track, with Albers coming in third, closely followed by Sutil. Test drivers Fauzy and van der Garde came in fifth and sixth respectively.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of action with the rest of the teams in Bahrain. Ralf Schumacher was out on track on his 37th lap when he span and bounced hard over a kerb. Although not badly injured, he did aggravate a muscle, and as a prevautionary measure, sat out the rest of the session and let his test driver Frank Montagny take to the track instead. Ralf is expected back in action today or tomorrow.
Ralf was not the only driver to crash; Kovalainen also spun on a kerb as he exited turn 7. He struck one of the barriers, destroying his R27 in the process. Luckily, he was able to walk away from the wreckage unharmed, and was seen laughing and chatting with track staff. An ambulance arrived on the scene promptly as the crash was so severe. At this time, Renault are unclear as to why the car span. Kovalainen was also forced to sit out the rest of the test session whilst repairs are carried out on his car.
Contrary to his original schedule, Fernando Alonso has decided to stay in Bahrain for the last two days of the pre-season test session having seen how fast Ferrari’s pace currently is. Alonso manage to outpace Felipe Massa by nearly six tenths of a second on the first day, although Kimi Raikkonen put in some storming laps to beat the McLaren driver’s times. Ferrari have come to Bahrain with a new bodywork package and a spokesperson for Ferrari have said that Raikkonen and Massa are testing the final Australia-specced car.
