New McLaren in Jerez F1 test

by Adam D Fri 11 Feb 2011, 8:15 am

Lewis Hamilton had his first taste of the new McLaren as the Formula 1 field resumed testing in Jerez on Thursday.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa set the early pace with a time of one minute, 20.709 seconds and his mark was not bettered.

Hamilton was more than a second adrift in fifth place behind Sauber's Sergio Perez, Mark Webber's Red Bull and Toro Rosso reserve Daniel Ricciardo.

Jenson Button will take over driving duties for McLaren on Friday when Michael Schumacher is in for Mercedes.

McLaren ran the 2010 car in last week's test in Valencia after choosing to spend more time refining the MP4-26 in their wind tunnel.

Jerez presented the first opportunity to put the new car, which the team launched in Berlin last week, through its paces.

On day one, McLaren focused on the foundation work involved in running a brand new car such as set-up changes, tyre evaluations and system checks.

Hamilton revealed he had used the Kers power-boost device but had not run with the moveable rear wing, both of which are technical additions for the coming campaign.

"Not the most exciting day, but it was important to make sure everything was running OK," said Hamilton.

"We didn't do any particularly long runs, and I wasn't too aggressive with the car, but we learned a couple of useful things.

"The car feels good compared to last year's, which is positive. It feels like a good step over MP4-25."

Despite Massa's top time, Ferrari were also sticking to aerodynamic testing and understanding the Pirelli tyres, which are also new for 2011.

source, pictures and full story on bbc website - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9393011.stm