Returning Raikkonen sets pace as F1 pre-season tests start

By Jens Marx Feb 7, 2012, 16:10 GMT

Jerez, Spain - Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in his return to Formula One racing on Tuesday as pre-season testing got underway.

Raikkonen recorded 1 minute 19.670 seconds on the 4.42km course in southern Spain in a Lotus after fellow-Finn Heiki Kovalainen was the first driver out on the day for Caterham.

'Not a bad start!' tweeted the team as Raikkonen drove more than 70 laps.

Raikkonen won the title in 2007 for Ferrari and is now back in the sport from a two-year hiatus with Lotus, the former Renault team.

He is one of six world champions for the 2012 campaign, the others being title holder Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton (both McLaren).

Paul di Resta was second for Force India in 1:19.772 and Nico Rosberg third for Mercedes in 1:20.219 and many drivers amassed more than 50 laps under sunny Spanish skies to collect as much early data as possible for their teams.

Mark Webber was fourth in 1:20.496 as he got the first 54 Red Bull laps under the one-car-only-per-team regulation. Vettel will drive on the final two days Thursday and Friday.

Button had 1:21.530 for the fastest of his 62 laps while Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi was the busiest driver with 106 laps.

Two further testing rounds follow ahead of the March 18 season-opener in Australia.

Marussia were the only of the 12 teams not to drive while Schumacher and Rosberg used a 2011 Mercedes as their new car won't be ready until the next round in Barcelona starting on February 21.

'We planned our buildup this way. And we will drive the car for a few days before the official second test. Last year we tested a car early which wasn't ready. This year we want to test a few days later with a car we want to use in the first races,' said Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug.

The opening day of testing also saw the rollout of the new Williams for Bruno Senna and Paolo Maldonado. Like all other cars, apart from McLaren who chose an elegant curved version, the FW34 has a stepped nose.