07/02/2013
NEWS STORY
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It's early days, but Felipe Massa has looked very good this morning. Earlier, the Brazilian put together a run of six timed laps, ranging between 1:19.005 and 1:20.009. Just over an hour later he came out for what was clearly a qualifying run. The Brazilian posted a 1:17.879 - the fastest time see this week - going on to complete four more timed laps on the same set of tyres.
No doubt, Fernando Alonso, who will not get to try the car until the week after next at Barcelona, will be heartened.
There was relief at Mercedes also, where Nico Rosberg has enjoyed a trouble free morning after two days of misery. The ghosts of Tuesday's fire and Wednesday's crash were soon laid to rest as the German completed three runs which exceeded the total number of laps the Brackley outfit had completed over the previous two days. Indeed, such is the team's confidence it has tried a new front wing.
Third quickest at present is James Rossiter, who earlier had a scare when he collided with one of his mechanics in the pitlane. Carrying just a little too much speed, combined with cold brakes and cold tyres, the Englishman missed his slot and hit his jack-man throwing him into the air. Thankfully, the mechanic was subsequently found to be OK and will not require a trip to the hospital - though the nose on Rossiter's car was damaged and had to be changed.
It's been a relatively quiet morning for the three world champions on duty - Button, Vettel and Raikkonen - the latter two enjoying their first taste of their respective cars.
Other than Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas has been one of the busiest this morning, the Finn completing 58 laps in the 2012 Williams.
The only red flag this far came courtesy of Charles Pic whose Caterham ground to a halt at Turn 2 at with an unspecified technical issue around 11:30.
Morning Times - All Times Unofficial
| Name | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
| Massa | Ferrari | 49 | 1:17.879 | 127.186 mph |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | 72 | 1:19.004 | 1.125 |
| Rossiter | Force India | 37 | 1:19.303 | 1.424 |
| Raikkonen | Lotus | 25 | 1:19.539 | 1.660 |
| Button | McLaren | 28 | 1:19.603 | 1.724 |
| Vettel | Red Bull | 51 | 1:19.676 | 1.797 |
| Vergne | Toro Rosso | 50 | 1:19.707 | 1.828 |
| Gutierrez | Sauber | 61 | 1:19.995 | 2.116 |
| Bottas | Williams | 58 | 1:21.578 | 3.699 |
| Chilton | Marussia | 32 | 1:23.938 | 6.059 |
| Pic | Caterham | 28 | 1:25.365 | 7.486 |
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