There were two eagerly awaited debuts at Valencia yesterday. One was every bit as good as could have been hoped for but the other was just a little disappointing. Fernando Alonso drove the Ferrari F10 for the first time in anger and very early in the piece set not just his best time for the day, but the best time for the entire test. And not just by a little way. The Spaniards time of 1'11.470 was three tenths quicker than team-mate Massa was able to achieve in his two days of running and over six tenths better than any other team could manage.

Alonso topped the test in his Ferrari debut

  Ferrari's Felipe Massa is the only driver so far to dip into the 1 minute 11 second bracket so far in testing at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit with a time of 1'11.722 which he set fairly early in the day. This is still some way from Heikki Kovalainen's 2008 testing time of 1'11.000 but so far the Ferrari seems to be quick and consistant. Also proving to be consistantly quick is the unsponsored Sauber with Kamui Kobayashi backing up yesterdays fine effort by de la Rosa to set the second quickest time today just three tenths slower than the Brazilian's best.

Kobayashi was also quick in the Sauber

 Felipe Massa made an impressive return from his serious head injuries yesterday by setting the fastest time on the first day of testing at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit. Driving the new Ferrari F10 on its first outing Massa was on top for most of the day but set his time in the closing minutes, proving he is not just still fast, but fit as well, having completed 102 laps.

Massa was quickest on day 1

  Two drivers places to be filled that is. With the first pucca F1 tests about to start tomorrow the car launchs and driver announcements are coming thick and fast. In the last week Pedro de la Rosa has been confirmed at Sauber, Jaime Alguersuari at Toro Rosso, Jose Maria Lopez at USF1 and now, just a bit out of left field, Russian GP2 runner-up Vitaly Petrov has been named as the number two at Renault alongside Robert Kubica.

The new Renault R30

   Young West Australian Daniel Ricciardo may have been somewhat disappointed after crashing out on the first lap of the Macau F3 Grand Prix two weeks ago but has made amends in the finest possible way by topping the Formula 1 test at Jerez earlier this week. Daniel, who won the British Formula 3 championship this year for Red Bull/Carlin Motorsports stepped up into the Red Bull squad for the “Rookie” test and blew away some of the best young drivers around, including Nico Hulkenberg, who will be driving for Williams this coming season.

Daniel Ricciardo topped the rookie test in the Red Bull at Jerez

  There is still plenty of speculation over just who will be on the grid in 2010. Some of the changes are already well known. There will be no Toyota, no BMW, no Brawn and no Kimi Raikkonen but there will be Mercedes and Sauber. As most of you will know the Brawn squad has been purchased by Mercedes and so the Silver Arrows will have a factory presence in F1 for the first time since 1955. 

Stirling Moss won at Aintree the last time Mercedes entered a works team in 1955

  Eastern Creek on the last weekend in November was the setting for the second Tasman Revival meeting, a splendid memory trip laid on by the HSRCA. With a staggering 474 historic race cars from all corners of the earth in action it was an impressive effort by the organizers. The sight and sound of these, some of which have not been seen in this country for almost 40 years, and the quality of the racing made this one of the most enjoyable meetings I have attended here.   

Ferrari 246T

  After a wet and dismal summer the Sun Gods once again smiled on Lord March and for three glorious days in mid September bathed the Goodwood circuit under warm clear blue skies. The spectacular weather was then equaled by the sensational racing, and when combined with some stunning machinery, some of the greatest names in the sports history and the usual jaw-dropping air display, the world’s premier fancy dress race meeting was, as always, a resounding success. Three days of pure, unadulterated, absolute pleasure. And so thought the over 120,000 fans who attended. I guess there was probably someone who was disappointed (there is always one miserable git) but if there was, no-one noticed. Big Brother is ignoring you………

Stirling Moss in action at the Revival