Jerez Day 1: Massa finishes on top

Felipe Massa finished the opening day of testing at Jerez on the top of the pile, after his best time of 1:20.709 remained unbeaten in the afternoon session.

The teams were met by clear blue skies for the second pre-season test of the year and even enjoyed track temperatures upwards of 28C as the morning chill eased. Massa, who was focusing on the Ferrari's aerodynamic performance and its effect on the Pirelli tires, had a relatively trouble-free day and notched up just over 100 laps in total.

Sauber rookie Sergio Perez got closest to the Ferrari's benchmark time with a 1:21.483, but, as always with testing, the times should not be seen as a true indicator of performance. However, one car that continues to look impressive is the Red Bull RB7 and Mark Webber completed 94 laps at the wheel with the third fastest time. After a morning in the Toro Rosso STR6, reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo set the fourth fastest time which race driver Jaime Alguersuari was not able to match in the afternoon.

Three new cars hit the track for the first time, with the McLaren MP4-26, the Force India VJM-04 and the Virgin MVR-02 all emerging from the garages in the morning. Lewis Hamilton was at the wheel of the McLaren and notched up a healthy 58 laps as well as the fifth fastest time. The MP4-26 was the centre of attention as spies from other teams tried to clarify if McLaren was running a forward-exiting exhaust similar to Renault's. The car was definitely running a different layout to the one it had at its launch, but the mechanics did a good job at hiding its secrets from the prying lenses of photographers.

Times