Williams driver Felipe Massa topped the timesheets on the opening day of the post-British Grand Prix test at Silverstone, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and championship leader Nico Rosberg.
Massa’s time of 1:35.242, which he set midway through the morning, was not beaten across the rest of the afternoon although he ended the day just 0.006s quicker than Ricciardo, who did not set a timed lap during the morning session. Rosberg was 0.289 seconds back in his Mercedes.
Adrian Sutil was next up and fourth for Sauber, with Jules Bianchi, who had been third for a long spell, winding up in fifth, missing the last 60 minutes or so due to an engine fire. The Marussia man completed over 100 laps as he conducted tyre testing for Pirelli. He will substitute for Kimi Räikkönen on Wednesday.
McLaren reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne received another taste of the MP4-29 after his run in Spain and was sixth, ahead of Force India pilot Sergio Pérez.
Jean-Éric Vergne had a disrupted day as his Toro Rosso STR9 stopped out on track three times, bringing out the red flags on each occasion. He ended the day eighth quickest.
Pastor Maldonado was ninth in his Lotus, with Ferrari development driver Pedro de la Rosa 10th. The Spaniard was sampling the F14 T for the first time and, like Bianchi, conducted tyre testing for Pirelli.
Caterham academy driver Will Stevens rounded out the 11 runners.
