Romain Grosjean topped the times on day one of the final test session to give Lotus a boost following their chassis troubles which hampered their running last week.
The Frenchman pipped McLaren’s Jenson Button to the fastest time by a quarter of a tenth in the afternoon, with Button setting his in the morning.
Sergio Perez was third fastest in his Sauber C31 whilst Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Jean-Eric Vergne were all within a second of Grosjean’s time.
Felipe Massa completed 105 laps, the fifth highest tally, to give Ferrari some vital data to ensure the Italian outfit can get to the bottom of its rumoured problems.
Vitaly Petrov caused one of two red flags as the session drew to a close. He stopped on track in his Caterham with no clear issue – the most likely explanation being a dry fuel run in which the team intentionally runs the car until it stops.
Pastor Maldonado completed the times with the slowest lap, a 1:25.587, over two seconds slower than the best.
Test times from Barcelona (Day 1):
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:23.252 | — | 73 |
| 02. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:23.510 | +0.258 | 64 |
| 03. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:23.820 | +0.568 | 118 |
| 04. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:23.830 | +0.578 | 102 |
| 05. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:23.992 | +0.740 | 128 |
| 06. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:24.216 | +0.964 | 113 |
| 07. | P. Di Resta | Force India | 1:24.305 | +1.053 | 98 |
| 08. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:24.318 | +1.066 | 105 |
| 09. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:24.876 | +1.624 | 123 |
| 10. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:25.587 | +2.335 | 58 |
