Hamilton tops morning session in Paul Ricard

[davewilson]

Only days after the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, the teams returned to the test track, with all eleven squads appearing in Southern France at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track. The four-day test, simulating Monte Carlo for the first two days, before switching to a configuration to emulate the straights of Montreal, began this morning. At lunchtime it was McLaren's Lewis Hamilton who led the way.

Lapping around the 2D SC Short version of the track, Hamilton posted a fastest time of 1:07.117, marginally ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg, continuing on from his impressive showing in Spain on Sunday. The German clocked a time of 1:07.189, with Massa behind him on 1:07.462, followed by Klien.

Today saw the debut of new Super Aguri tester James Rossiter in the SA07, completing his first test for the team following the announcement of his arrival yesterday evening. The Brit finished in ninth place, 1.7 seconds off the pace, after 50 laps.