BMW_Dude

Kimi Raikkonen landed the first blow for Ferrari as a major three-day test at Barcelona got underway on Monday, topping the timesheet by a convincing 0.7s margin.
The Finn, who shares the world championship lead with McLaren rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, clocked a best lap of 1m21.194s.
His closest competition came from an unexpected quarter: Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri, who managed a 1m21.858s in qualifying trim.
The Japanese team was trying out a gearbox upgrade scheduled to be introduced at the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix as well as (in common with many other teams) new aero parts.
Pedro de la Rosa was third quickest for McLaren, but more attention-grabbing than the Spaniard’s lap times was a new-look front wing featuring an extra vane above the nose, mounted on the endplates at either side.
McLaren sampled the aero package during straightline testing in Menorca last week and if it is validated by this week’s test it is likely to appear on the MP4-22 at the Spanish GP.
Toyota has brought revised bodywork to Spain, helping Ralf Schumacher to finish Monday's session fourth quickest.
The timing screens in fact put Schumacher fastest of all but the team confirmed that he had short-cut the chicane on the lap in question.
Nick Heidfeld, still glowing about his laps around the Nurburgring Nordschleife last Saturday, was fifth quickest for BMW Sauber on this altogether more prosaic circuit.
Sixth place for Rubens Barrichello suggested that Honda has made some progress from its dismal performance level so far this year – although the Brazilian was still the best part of a second slower than Sato’s Super Aguri.
Renault test driver Nelson Piquet junior was seventh fastest and completed the second highest number of laps (125 to Barrichello’s 131).
“We did a lot of running today, from 0900 to 1800 non-stop,” reported Piquet.
“I covered a large number of laps and it’s almost two months since I last drove the car, so it wasn’t the most restful of days for me!”
There were two sizeable accidents, one involving Spyker test driver Adrian Valles and the other his Williams counterpart Kazuki Nakajima.
Valles, who took over Spyker's F8-VII from Giedo van der Garde in the afternoon, crashed heavily at turn three on his final run.
The Spaniard was unhurt but the car sustained heavy damage and the mechanics face a long night’s work to repair it for Adrian Sutil’s use on Tuesday.
Nakajima lost control at the fifth-gear Campsa corner and badly damaged the right-hand side of his FW29 against the tyre barrier, but he too escaped injury.


Testing times from Barcelona (Monday 30 April)
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m21.194s
2. SATO Super Aguri 1m21.858s
3. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m21.906s
4. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m21.983s
5. HEIDFELD BMW 1m22.114s
6. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m22.655s
7. PIQUET Renault 1m22.763s
8. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m22.771s
9. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m22.973s
10. VALLES Spyker 1m23.699s
11. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m24.241s
12. VAN DER GARDE Spyker 1m24.997


Source = ITV F1