"This morning it was important to go deeply into some technical elements to understand what happened last Sunday in Hockenheim. We picked up a lot of data, and that will continue over the next few days when we also test some solutions for the forthcoming races."
Williams' tester Nico Hulkenberg was fourth as the Grove-based operation looks towards Budapest and what is the eleventh round in the 2008
FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
"Nico Hulkenberg drove the car today and concentrated on general set-ups," explained Williams test team manager, Dickie Stanford. "Our running was cut short by a technical problem later on in the afternoon, but we fortunately didn't lose too much time.
Nico Rosberg joins us tomorrow for day two."
Further down the order Sebastien Buemi was fifth for
Red Bull, just four hundredths slower in his RB4. He had a good day and completed his entire programme, working mainly on suspension, as well as carrying out other development work, both short and long term. He also did 110 laps – the most of anyone runner - and 39 more than Romain Grosjean, who was next up in the works powered
Renault.
"It was my first time here in
Jerez and so I had to learn the track this morning and worked gradually with the team improving the car throughout the day. It still feels amazing to drive this car and I was glad to have the chance to work with the team again," said Grosjean.
"It was quite difficult today because of the high temperatures, but I really enjoyed driving this circuit with the mix of high and low speed corners. I'm now really, really looking forward to observing the team for the next couple of days to learn as much as I can."
"It was the second day of running we have done with Romain and he did a good job on a circuit that was new to him," added Renault's chief test engineer, Christian Silk. "We concentrated on getting him comfortable with the car and he coped well with the difficult track conditions caused by the heat, which made the balance of the car quite tricky.
