27/02/2015
NEWS STORY
It's been a morning of firsts at the Circuit de Catalunya, the first appearance of Force India's 2015 contender, the VJM08, and the first time that Jenson Button has completed more than 35 laps in a day in the MP4-30.
Starting out bright and crisp, the skies have clouded over a couple of times but thankfully the rain has held off.
The teams appear to be running a whole range of different programmes, witness Valtteri Bottas completing almost 20 laps before he posted a time and numerous sensor devices. Whilst Ferrari ran a sensor on its rear wing, the Red Bull appeared to have crashed through a farmyard gate such was the size of the device on the Austrian team's car. Elsewhere, Sauber must be due some sort of prize for the amount of flo-viz a car can be smothered in.
Despite the number of laps completed (465) it's been a quiet incident-free morning, not a hint of a red flag.
Nasr's impressive time was set on the soft rubber, as was Vettel's best, whilst Rosberg maintains a strong pace on the mediums, as does Bottas.
At 12:19 (local time) the VJM08 finally emerged from behind its orange barriers, Nico Hulkenberg completing a couple of exploratory laps before going into the break with a single timed lap.
We're sure that the German, like Button, will be hoping that there are many more laps to follow this afternoon.
Morning Times - All Times Unofficial
| Name | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
| Nasr | Sauber | 59 | 1:24.071 | 123.862 mph |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | 65 | 1:25.216 | 1.145 |
| Vettel | Ferrari | 69 | 1:25.339 | 1.268 |
| Bottas | Williams | 59 | 1:26.032 | 1.961 |
| Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 78 | 1:26.766 | 2.695 |
| Maldonado | Lotus | 50 | 1:28.013 | 3.942 |
| Button | McLaren | 44 | 1:28.052 | 3.981 |
| Kvyat | Red Bull | 36 | 1:29.294 | 5.223 |
| Hulkenberg | Force India | 5 | 1:31.165 | 7.094 |
Check out our Friday gallery, here.