Alonso is fastest on Day 3 in Valencia

Fernando Alonso continued his impressive Ferrari debut, setting the fastest time of the week during the morning session at Valencia.

Despite being only 29 laps into his Ferrari career, and Wednesday’s running is first opportunity to drive the new F10, Alonso quickly proved that he is going to be a force this season.

Over 25,000 fans arrived at the Valencia circuit on Wednesday morning, eager to see the Spaniard in action upon his Ferrari debut. But added to the Spaniard’s outing an interesting tussle between Alonso, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher was also on the cards.

Massa fastest again on Day 2 in Valencia

Felipe Massa again topped testing as he held onto first place all day by setting the fastest laps in his new Ferrari F10 during the second day of multi-team test in Valencia.

His best time was a 1:11.722, which he clocked during the first half of the day. It was considerably better than Monday when he was the quickest driver on the track with a time of 1:12.574. “The feeling for the car is great,” said an enthusiastic Massa who completed 124 laps.

Testing ended four minutes early when the red flags halted the session. Robert Kubica’s Renault had stopped on the pit straight directly in front of his pit. The initial speculation was that he’d run out of fuel.

Massa finished the first day of 2010 testing on top

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa finished the first day of 2010 testing at the top of the timesheets, rounding off a successful return to the current F1 machienary after a six-month lay-off from competitive action. The Brazilian was giving the F10 its track debut and completed an impressive 102 laps over the course of the day, the quickest in 1m12.574s.

Weather conditions at the Spanish venue were dry and sunny all day, although temperatures remained relatively low throughout, rising to an ambient high of just 15°C, while the track temperature peaked at 20°C. Nevertheless, the stable conditions allowed teams to run their programmes without interruption.