Ricciardo leads F1 testing, Alonso ends up on gravel

RedBull’s Daniel Ricciardo went faster and further than anyone else asFormula One started testing yesterday while Fernando Alonso ended up inthe gravel after a wheel came off his McLaren.Ricciardo completed103 laps of Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, the only driver to breakinto three figures on a day that started sunny but ended with rain andplunging temperatures.xAlonso provided the early headlines, returningto his home track with a smile a year on from a testing nightmare withHonda engines and becoming the immediate focus when his car’s right rearwheel came off.The Spaniard remained cheerful after an accidentthat the team blamed on a simple wheel nut and said was no big deal,although he lost about three hours of track time while the damage wasdealt with.“So far, so good,” said the double world champion, whoseteam are expected to be far more competitive since the switch to Renaultengines.“The car was running fine, the engine was running fine. Ithink there is a huge potential in the McLaren Renault team,” addedAlonso.Asked what had gone through his mind when the car crashed, hegrinned, saying: “That it was a good day for you guys. I thoughtexactly that. This is a very, very small problem but very graphic, veryobvious.“A car in the gravel makes a big thing and there are sixteams in the garage with the door closed and the car in pieces butnobody sees it. There are a lot of teams with big trouble and us with awheel nut, we will make the story of the day.”Alonso went back outagain before the lunch break for a further four laps and ended the daywith 49 under his belt as the rain limited what teams could do.Ricciardo,whose team use the same Renault engines as McLaren even if they arebranded Tag Heuer, set his fastest lap of one minute 20.179 seconds inthe morning session.Red Bull had to play catch up last year after aslow start, despite ending up winning three races, but this timelaunched their new car a week earlier than before and hit the groundrunning.So too did sister team Toro Rosso, Honda’s new partners, whocompleted 93 trouble-free laps with New Zealander Brendon Hartley, whoended the day eighth fastest of the 13 drivers on track.The test wasthe first since the introduction of the now mandatory ‘halo’ headprotection system and drivers reported no problems with visibility.ValtteriBottas was second fastest for Mercedes and completed 58 laps, with atime two tenths off Ricciardo’s, before handing over to four times worldchampion team mate Lewis Hamilton.The Briton did 25 laps in soggyconditions. “It was a solid start,” said Mercedes team principal TotoWolff. “It’s difficult to judge because it is very cold and everybodyjust collects data and sees how they get on.“It’s interesting to seethere are a couple of cars that have been able to post quick times thismorning so we are up for an interesting season,” added the Austrian.Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest for Ferrari, runners-up last year, with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg fourth.The season starts in Australia on March 25, with McLaren seeking their first win since 2012.