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

  A surprise second fastest was Pedro de la Rosa in the Sauber-Ferrari with a best time just two tenths down on Massa's best. "For me it was a very positive day," said the Spaniard. "The car was reliable right from the beginning, which meant we could follow our programme perfectly without wasting any time. Also the car reacted to our changes very well."

   Third and fourth quickest were the Meredes on Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Schumacher ran 40 laps in the afternoon and like Massa set his quick time at the end of the day while Rosberg ran 39 laps in the morning and was just six tenths down on the cobbler. It will be interesting to see who gets the upper hand here.

  Garry Paffett did the first days donkey work in the new McLaren MP4/25 and was fifth fastest ahead of Barrichello who was ironing out the bugs in the Williams-Cosworth. Propping up the bottom of the time sheets were Sebastien Buemi who struggled with gearbox troubles in the Toro Rosso STR5 and Robert Kubica in the Renault R30 who struggled with speed.

Times

1 Felipe Massa - Ferrari     1'12.574

2 Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber 1'12.784

3 Michael Schumacher - Mercedes 1'12.947

4 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes  1'13.543

5 Garry Paffett - McLaren  1'13.846

6 Rubens Barrichello - Williams  1'14.449

7 Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso  1'14.762

8 Robert Kubica - Renault  1'15.000

Sam Snape

2-2-2010

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