Rosberg tops the early running as Red Bull debut

Nico Rosberg was the early pace-setter at Jerez on Wednesday morning, however, it was last year's runners-up Red Bull who caught the eye.

Debuting Red Bull's 2010 challenger at the Spanish circuit, Mark Webber put the new RB6 through its paces, completing just five laps in the opening hour.

The Aussie was slowest of the nine drivers in action although given that it's the car's first run, that's to be expected.

Rosberg, meanwhile, was quick out of the blocks, clocking a 1:20.927 to edge Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi by 0.104s while Williams' Nico Hulkenberg was third quickest.

Last week's Valencian pace-setter Fernando Alonso was fourth, finishing ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Jenson Button.

Tonio Liuzzi, who was putting the first laps on Force India's VJM03, was also in action, completing six tours of the circuit to take seventh place ahead of Vitaly Petrov. Both drivers, though, were over four seconds off the pace.

Minutes after the first hour was completed the predicted rain began to fall, leaving Virgin Racing's Timo Glock inside his garage and without a lap time to his name.

Virgin had yet to venture out as work was continuing on their first-ever F1 car due to the fact that some parts only arrived at the track late on Tuesday night.

Unofficial Times
1. N. Rosberg Mercedes GP W01 1:20.927 11 laps
2. S. Buemi Toro Rosso STR5 1:21.031 +0.104 9 aps
3. N. Hülkenberg Williams FW32 1:22.243 +1.316 17 laps
4. F. Alonso Ferrari F10 1:22.895 +1.968 11 laps
5. K. Kobayashi Sauber C29 1:23.787 +2.860 7 laps
6. J. Button McLaren MP4-25 1:24.947 +4.020 5 laps
7. V. Liuzzi Force India VJM-03 1:24.968 +4.041 6 laps
8. V. Petrov Renault R30 1:25.440 +4.513 9 laps
9. M. Webber Red Bull Racing RB6 1:26.502 +5.575 5 laps

Source: Rosberg tops the early running as Red Bull debut - Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com