Brazilian driver Felipe Massa of the Scuderia Ferrari topped the first day of
Pirelli tire testing in Abu Dhabi, the first time that Formula 1 teams have tried the Italian manufacturer's new 2011 tires.
Just four sets of Pirelli tires were available to each team for the first day.
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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull (Photo: WRI2) |
New F1 champion Sebastian Vettel was the quickest this morning, but his time was beaten by Massa (sporting a new red helmet
à la Schumacher) in the afternoon.
This was a huge relief for Massa who complained throughout the 2010 season that Bridgestone tire warm-up struggles were to blame for his poor qualifying performances.
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Felipe Massa, Ferrari (Photo: WRI2) |
Vettel, driving the Red Bull, did a 1:40.5, which is about two seconds slower than Daniel Ricciardo's Bridgestone-shod time set in the Red Bull earlier this week.
It must be noted that most teams were also running with the new mandatory weight distribution setup for 2011.
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Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP (Photo: WRI2) |