British star leads the way on first 'official' day of testing at southern Spanish circuit.
Lewis Hamilton showed the racism row that engulfed the sport less than ten days ago had borne few ill-effects as he returned to Spain and immediately shot to the top of the timesheets on a sunny day in Jerez.
The young Briton - who covered 89 laps of the 4.428km track - set his fastest effort mid-morning. He was backed up by McLaren-Mercedes test driver Pedro de la Rosa just behind in second place.
The two Silver Arrows stars spent their time on aerodynamic development, with new components arriving from the McLaren Technology Centre throughout the day. Hamilton's 2008 team-mate Heikki Kovalainen will replace de la Rosa on day two.
Robert Kubica wound up 'best-of-the-rest' in the first of the two BMW Sauber F1.08s present at the test, four tenths and three spots in front of team-mate Nick Heidfeld, with the duo completing 91 and 94 laps respectively of the southern Spanish circuit and concentrating on set-up work, systems checks and practice starts. The Munich and Hinwil-based outfit was hampered only by the strong winds during the afternoon, and the main focus on day two will be on aerodynamics and braking.
Kazuki Nakajima served signal of the fact that Williams' front wing problems are now well-and-truly behind them by setting the fourth-fastest time in the new FW30, less than a tenth away from Kubica and with team-mate Nico Rosberg almost half a second slower in eighth.
Nelsinho Piquet completed a marathon 120 laps in Renault's R28 as the Régie prepares for three tests in as many weeks with the new campaign fast-approaching. The Brazilian concentrated on basic set-up work to improve the car's balance and longer runs in the afternoon, displaying encouraging consistency.
"[It was] another good day with lots of mileage for the car and myself," the 22-year-old commented. "The more I drive the car, the happier I feel, and it's all good preparation for the first race. The car ran well today and we did not have any problems, which meant we could do a race distance in the afternoon."
Piquet was joined in Jerez by test driver, countryman and fellow ex-GP2 ace Lucas di Grassi, who clearly enjoyed his first taste of the Enstone-based outfit's new mount. The 23-year-old spent the morning carrying out performance tests as he familiarised himself with the car, before he too completed some longer runs.
"It's my first time driving a Formula 1 car on a proper track," di Grassi enthused after clocking the 13th-quickest time, "and for sure the car feels really good and it was a really impressive experience. I'm really happy with my day.
"We did a lot of laps, the pace was consistent and I felt comfortable with the team and the car. We did one long run in the afternoon which went well, and I'm looking forward to working with the team later this week."
"The two main objectives of the programme were to complete a race distance with Nelson and to get Lucas comfortable in the car as he had not run an R28 on a full circuit test before," added chief test engineer Christian Silk. "Both these were completed without any problems and both cars enjoyed a trouble-free day.
"Nelson did a bit of performance work in the morning, improving the set-up of the car, and completed a race distance in the afternoon without any major issue, so that was a good day for us."
Red Bull Racing - which like Williams had arrived at the circuit a day earlier - had Mark Webber seventh and David Coulthard tenth, though with less than two tenths of a second between the pair.
Sebastian Vettel finished ninth in the leading Scuderia Toro Rosso machine, two places and three tenths ahead of team-mate and namesake Sébastien Bourdais.
Rubens Barrichello was a lowly twelfth as Honda continues its search for speed from its new RA108. The experienced Brazilian - who will break the record for number of grand prix starts this year by overtaking Riccardo Patrese - languished more than two seconds adrift of the leading pace, with the Japanese manufacturer's tester Alex Wurz bringing up the rear on the timing screens.
The two Hondas were split by di Grassi, Takuma Sato for Super Aguri and Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi. Sato ended proceedings on day one 14th out of the 16 drivers present in an updated version of last year's Honda-powered machine equipped with the 2008 MES system. The interim SA07B ran reliably throughout, allowing the Japanese pilot to complete a number of longer runs during the afternoon whilst evaluating chassis set-ups in order to learn more about the car's performance.
To see the testing times in full, click here
