"It is good to be back driving again even if we didn't do as many laps as I would have wanted as we had to change a few things on the car,” he said. “Obviously today's testing was all about the tyres and my first impression of the new tyres is that they are pretty consistent even if they are definitely a bit slower than last year's. They seem to work well but we need to work on the set-up in order to make the most of them."
Continuing to show impressive pace on his first outing for his new team, Anthony Davidson was 13th for
Super Aguri, with Narain Karthikeyan replacing Alex Wurz at the wheel of the lone
Williams and finishing 14th – less than a tenth behind twelfth placed Trulli. Toro Rosso duo Scott Speed and Tonio Luizzi in 15th and 16th were the other two drivers to take to the track.
"It was like the first days back at school," chief engineer Laurent Mekies said. “Our aim was to understand all the implications of switching to a new tyre supplier.
Bridgestone seems to be making a big effort despite the lack of competition. We carried out some fairly basic tests as it was our first run on these tyres and let's say there were no bad surprises. It was vital to try and separate the results of car performance and tyre performance, in order to understand what data will still be relevant when we run with next year's car. The drivers also had to adapt their driving styles to suit the new rubber."
Testing continues tomorrow.
Leading times (November 30) - Catalunya:
1.
Luca Badoer Ferrari-
Ferrari 1min 16.318secs 88 laps
2.
Heikki Kovalainen Renault-
Renault 1min 16.684secs 122 laps
3.
Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber
1min 16.730secs 67 laps
4.
Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
1min 17.076secs 88 laps
5.
Rubens Barrichello Honda-
Honda 1min 17.189secs 117 laps
6.
Marc Gene Ferrari-Ferrari
1min 17.340secs 83 laps
7.
Ralf Schumacher Toyota-
Toyota 1min 17.358secs 93 laps
8.
Nelson Piquet Jr Renault-Renault
1min 17.426secs 95 laps
9.
Timo Glock BMW-Sauber
1min 17.630secs 103 laps
10.
Christian Klien Honda-Honda
1min 17.774secs 116 laps
11.
David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari
1min 17.876secs 85 laps
12.
Jarno Trulli Toyota-Toyota
1min 18.018secs 73 laps
13.
Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda
1min 18.043secs 111 laps
14.
Narain Karthikeyan Williams-Toyota
1min 18.086secs 80 laps
15.
Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth
1min 18.527secs 94 laps
16.
Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth
1min 18.799secs 97 laps
17.
Michael Ammermuller Red Bull-Ferrari
1min 18.822secs 63 laps
18.
Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes
1min 19.336secs 79 laps
