Lotus are back on test and fastest as usual !!!
Today the first day of the last pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, after several test sessions missed, Lotus had comeback on track and immediately with a new positive result for them. Romain Grosjean has recorded the fastest time in the last 30 minutes of the session, using Pirelli`s soft tyres, moving Jenson Button with McLaren at the second position, who spent most of the day at the top of timetable. Englishman completed only 57 laps with MP4-27, and from the team said it was due to the significant upgrade of the car in this test before the start of the season scheduled on March 16 to 18 in Melbourne. His time was set to hard tires Pirelli.Fast times were set up in the morning part, and in the afternoon were rare because the teams decided to use stable conditions on the track for longer runs. Grosjean was one of only two drivers who improved his time after lunch, the other was Mark Webber in Red Bull. Australian was fourth fastest with 0.578s. gap behind the fastest time and completed 102 laps in RB8.
Ferrari again very reserved. Felipe Massa only the second time in pre-season test drove over 100 laps in the new F2012, and once again the team said that their test program is focused on testing new parts, not qualifying or the race simulations. At the end of the day his best time was enough for only 8-th place with gap for more than a second from the time of Grosjean.
Nico Rosberg was the busiest driver completing impressive 128 laps and set the fifth fastest time. Immediately behind him was Vitaly Petrov, who replaced sick Heikki Kovalainen, completing 123 laps.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:23.252 73
2. Jenson Button McLaren 1:23.510 +0.258 64
3. Sergio Perez Sauber 1:23.820 +0.568 118
4. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:23.830 +0.578 102
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.992 +0.740 128
6. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:24.216 +0.964 113
7. Paul Di Resta Force India 1:24.305 +1.053 98
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:24.318 +1.066 105
9. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:24.876 +1.624 123
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:25.587 +2.335 58
