Ferrari test driver leads the way after first day in Spain

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer (pictured), filling in for Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, set the fastest time on the first day of testing at Barcelona.

The 37-year-old Italian, a test driver at Maranello for almost a decade, set the pace early in the morning and held the top spot throughout the day - rain in the afternoon prevented any of the other drivers from setting a serious time.

Ferrari spent the day testing aerodynamic tweaks, which seemed to pay off for Badoer.

The Italian ended the day on 1:22.412, a healthy two-tenths of a second faster than F1’s man of the hour, Robert Kubica. The Pole clocked 1:22.682, despite spending part of the morning stuck in the garage as BMW Sauber fixed a mechanical problem on his car.

Full timesheet from day one:

1. Luca Badoer (Ferrari) 1:22.412 (82 laps)
2. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 1:22.682 (69 laps)
3. David Coulthard (Red Bull) 1:22.724 (21 laps)
4. Buemi (Red Bull) 1:22.764 (79 laps)
5. Gary Paffett (McLaren) 1:22.938 (36 laps)
6. Antony Davidson (Honda) 1:23.208 (81 laps)
7. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) 1:23.619 (112 laps)
8. Romain Grosjean (Renault) 1:23.899 (60 laps)
9. Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota) 1:24.442 (82 laps)

Great to see Anthony Davidson back in an F1 car, after the collapse of Super Aguri.