Vettel sets Jerez pace

Only two F1 race drivers on track

Last updated: 23rd July 2008

Vettel sets Jerez pace

Vettel: Quickest

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Sebastian Vettel clocked the fastest time on the first day of testing at Jerez in Spain.

The Toro Rosso driver was one of only two current Formula One drivers to take to the track on Tuesday, and his fastest lap of one minute 19.844 seconds was more than three-tenths-of-a-second quicker than that of McLaren Mercedes test driver Gary Paffett.

Ferrari's Luca Badoer, who was testing on slick tyres, was third fastest with a time of 1:20.697s.

"We completed our planned programme," Badoer told autosport.com. "This morning it was important to go deeply into some technical elements to understand what happened last Sunday in Hockenheim.

"We picked up a lot of data, and that will continue over the next few days when we also test some solutions for the forthcoming races."

Williams' Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull's Sebastien Buemi completed the top five. Jarno Trulli, the only other current F1 driver to test on Tuesday, was seventh fastest.

The day's running was dominated by an incident in the BMW Sauber pits in which a mechanic suffered an electric shock after he touched a car fitted with their Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).

The Hinwil-based squad suspended testing for the rest of the day after the incident.

Times:

1 Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso 1:19.844 94 laps
2 Gary Paffett McLaren 1:20.179 80
3 Luca Badoer Ferrari 1:20.697 69
4 Nico Hulkenberg Williams 1:20.953 58
5 Sebastien Buemi Red Bull 1:20.997 110
6 Romain Grosjean Renault 1:21.223 71
7 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:21.459 96
8 Alex Wurz Honda 1:21.596 84
9 Christian Klien BMW no time 3