Vettel sets the pace on first day at Barcelona

F1 Test, Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya

World Champion Sebastian Vettel was at the wheel of the Red Bull RB8 today and he used it well to eventually end up on top of the timesheets. Meanwhile, the newly launched Mercedes AMG W03 debuted its own winter testing programme as Michael Schumacher ended 6th in today's rankings.

Although testing times aren't usually an indicator of how quick the cars are relative to their competitors, Vettel ended the day 0.1s ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

While Mercedes enjoyed a succesful debut of its new car, the afternoon stopped that progress as a hydraulic leak prevented Schumacher from running the car anymore in the afternoon. By that time however, the sidepods already showed burning marks, a problem that also plagued its predecessor.

The surprise of Jerez, Lotus F1 Team were troubled by a chassis problem. Their second chassis due to run at Barcelona was found to have a problem and immediately sent back to Enstone, the team's headquarters. As it cut running short, the team is confident chassis #1 which was used at Jerez will arrive in time to return to the track tomorrow.

Caterham meanwhile were also troubled by a problem as a rear track rod failed. The team were able to fix it but it still cost a lost of track time. More parts will be flown over to make sure they do not suffer from the same issue again later on during testing.