Vettel puts in another slick performance

Wednesday 23rd July 2008

Sebastian Vettel set the pace in testing at Jerez for the second successive day as the Toro Rosso driver underlined the potential impact of new tyre regulations for next season.

With slick tyres to make a return to Formula One in 2009, Vettel spent the entire day on the rubber, posting the quickest time of his 100 laps in one minute 18.843 seconds.

In temperatures hitting 34 degrees Celsius, McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa ran for 122 laps, with his best also on slicks, 0.218secs slower than Vettel.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest on grooved tyres, but was 0.603secs adrift of young German Vettel who will be driving for Red Bull next season.

Williams' Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber for Red Bull and Honda tester Alex Wurz, who were the only other drivers who ran on slicks at various stages, were fourth, fifth and sixth quickest.

Jarno Trulli in his Toyota and Force India test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi were seventh and eighth overall, around 1.7secs down, with Renault's Nelson Piquet ninth.

BMW, who yesterday abandoned testing after one of their mechanics suffered an electric shock from a device due to become standard for next season, at least completed a full day.

The mechanic was forced to spend the night in a local hospital after coming into contact with a hybrid version of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System).

The device recovers energy generated under braking and stores it in a battery to be channelled back into the car.

BMW test driver Christian Klien eventually finished just over two seconds off Vettel's pace with a time of 1:20.850secs.

Times
01 S Vettel Toro Rosso 1:18.843 100 laps
02 P. De La Rosa McLaren 1:19.081 22
03 K. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.446 76
04 N. Rosberg Williams 1:19.861 112
05 M. Webber Red Bull 1:20.021 105
06 A. Wurz Honda 1:20.416 77
07 J. Trulli Toyota 1:20.534 81
08 V. Liuzzi Force India 1:20.577 102
09 N. Piquet Renault 1:20.827 99
10 C. Klien BMW1:20.866 89

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