Raikkonen impresses on return

by Michelle Fortune , 07 February 2012

Kimi Raikkonen announced his return to Formula 1 in some style as he posted the fastest time in the first day of pre-season testing at Jerez.


The 2007 world champion has returned to the sport after two years away and despite having limited time in the 2010 Renault, he looked sharp as he got to grips with Lotus' E20 at the Spanish circuit.

It was an impressive morning for the Finnish driver as he topped the timesheets with a smart 1:19.670, which same on the medium Pirelli tyres, and his time was never matched as the afternoon proved slower than the morning.

In total he completed 50 laps before lunch with a further 23 in the afternoon and he will return on Wednesday as Lotus are keen to give him as much track time as possible.

Paul di Resta posted the second fastest time of the say with Nico Rosberg third in Mercedes 2011 W02.

The Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest in the morning but it was Mark Webber in the Red Bull RB8 who came through to set the fourth best time of the day, pushing Ricciardo down to fifth.

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi experienced some problems, first with his rear brake duct before he ran out of fuel and he had to settle for seventh, just behind Michael Schumacher who took over from Rosberg in the afternoon session.

Jenson Button was eighth fastest in his McLaren with Felipe Massa ninth for Ferrari home, while Heikki Kovalainen failed to see out the session after Caterham's starter shaft broke.

Pastor Maldonado completed just 25 laps on his way to 11th ahead of Pedro de la Rose in the HRT.

Unofficial Jerez Day One Times:
Pos  Driver               Team                  Time        Laps
 1.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault          1m19.670s            73
 2.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes   1m19.772s  + 0.102  101
 3.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes               1m20.219s  + 0.549   56
 4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault       1m20.496s  + 0.826   53
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m20.694s  + 1.024   57
 6.  Michael Schumacher   Mercedes               1m20.794s  + 1.124   41
 7.  Kamui Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1m21.353s  + 1.683  106
 8.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes       1m21.530s  + 1.860   60
 9.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                1m22.815s  + 3.145   69
10.  Heikki Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault       1m23.178s  + 3.508   28
11.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault       1m23.371s  + 3.701   25
11.  Pedro de la Rosa     HRT-Cosworth           1m23.676s  + 4.006   44

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