Mugello (Italy), May 2 (IANS) Fernando Alonso brought joy to the Ferrari fans gathered at the Mugello Circuit here by setting the fastest time on a rain-affected opening day of the Formula One mid-season testing. Force India’s reserve driver Jules Bianchi was eighth fastest.
Alonso’s morning time of 1:22.444 was enough for the best time Tuesday as the rain got heavier in the afternoon session, disrupting teams’ test programmes. HRT is the lone outfit missing the first mid-season test since 2008.
Mark Webber clocked 1:23.648 in his Red Bull for the second fastest time while Toro Rosso’s reserve Jean-Eric Vergne was third on 1:23.891.
Bianchi got the behind the wheels of VJM05, recording 1:25.475 for his best lap.
“In the morning we had to wait a long time for the track to dry. We did some runs on the intermediates just to check the car’s systems and when the conditions improved I went back out on the dry tyres (medium) to get confident with the car and to feel the track conditions.
“There was a chance to do some aero checks and we got some good aero data, but it was difficult to test all the developments so that will need to be done later this week,” said Bianchi.
The Mugello test is the fourth and final one of the season.
