Today is the first day of testing for the 2012 F1 World Championship and for many teams the first time their brand new cars will have turned a wheel. All the teams bar Marussia are present today, and of those in action, Sauber, Ferrari, Force India, Caterham, McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Williams will have their 2012 cars on track.
There's some great live commentary on the Autosport website, here's a sample: 09:15 The Mercedes trickles slowly through the hairpin and Turns 3, 4 and 5.
09:14 Rosberg leaves the pits on medium tyres, pausing for a practice start at the end of the pitlane, then works up through the box checking gearchanges, before backing off the throttle.
09:12 It's getting slightly warmer: air temperature now 6.7 degrees and track temperature 19.4.
09:11 Yesterday Red Bull team boss Christian Horner declared that the team's winter build-up had been smoother than ever:
09:10 News from the pitlane from @eddstrawF1: "Finishing touches are being put on the Red Bull. It will be out this morning - in the next hour, the team hopes."
09:09 Raikkonen took a bite of grass as he entered the pitlane. Not hanging about even on his in-lap. There is purpose in his body and car language.
09:07 @MikeGascoyne provides a Caterham update: "Short break after installation lap while we fit some parts that only turned up this morning. Back out soon."
09:06 Lotus's programme for this morning is mainly focused on giving Raikkonen and the new E20 some mileage.
09:06 A Lotus spokesman tells @StrangAutosport that all is looking good so far, with no dramas and Raikkonen happy in the car.
09:04 So an hour into 2012 F1 winter testing, and Raikkonen is fastest on a 1m20.514s, 1.5s ahead of Kobayashi, 3.9s ahead of Massa and 4.1s ahead of Ricciardo. Di Resta and Rosberg have only done slower evaluation runs, and no one else has set a time so far.
09:03 Raikkonen comes back in. That run was on the medium tyres. And now the circuit is empty.
09:01 And is frankly probably happier than he would've been if he had been preparing for Rally Sweden this weekend...
09:01 The Finn is the only man on track at the moment.
09:01 From trackside we can see that Raikkonen is starting to wind it up, and beginning to lean on the car a little more.
