At the first day of testing in Valencia, only two drivers made a test, due to the thick fog on Monday. Alonso made the best time on Monday. Today the Ferrari’s answered as they made the 1-2 with Massa being at the top and Kimi Raikkonen following just 0.6 seconds behind.

Fernando Alonso set the pace in Valencia, at the opening day of the testing, driving the developed R28. The Spaniard managed to make the fastest lap after he completed 39 laps, with 1:13:027.

“When you have your first day with a new car, you always have to take your time to check that all the systems are functioning correctly, and that is what we did today. We were able to lengthen our runs little by little and ended the day with a 14-lap stint. Everything went well, but it is still too early to try and compare our performance with that of other teams, and that was not the objective today. The good news is that we encountered few problems, and we will be able to continue our work tomorrow,” Alonso said.

Lewis Hamilton signed a new contract with McLaren till 2012. After a stunning season, with Hamilton fighting for the championship until the end, losing it only by one point to Kimi Raikkonen, he now signed a new five-year contract with McLaren.

Vijay Mallya, owner of the team Force India, officially presented the team’s new drivers, during a ceremony which took place in India. Giancarlo Fisichella and Andrian Sutil will be driving the team’s two cars. The evolution of the car along with the team is on their hands, as Force India is actually starting from scratch.

Fisichella have decided to join the team, after driving for Renault during the past 3 years ad had been pleased by the professionalism and devotion of the team members.
“Despite what people may think, this has not been my only choice. It was the best though. With a new owner and a good budget I think we can shake competition during the season.

Williams – Toyota’s new racing car, FW30 will be presented one week later than expected. The plan said that the new car was about to be presented on January 14th 2008, during the test in Jerez, Spain.

“We have been under time pressure since the beginning. We have chosen not to hurry with our new car and wait a little more until its first test. This first test will take place during the next testing session in Valencia”, Sam Michael, technical director of the team, said.

The double world champion Fernando Alonso made his comeback today setting the pace in the second of the three day testing in Jerez. Although Alonso was driving the last years car without any driver aids such as traction control, he managed to make a time of 1:19.503 and be the fastest, just 0.147 seconds faster than McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa. Kimi Raikkonen made the third fastest lap in his Ferrari, followed by Nico Rosberg’s Williams. Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen came after them, with the second Ferrari and McLaren.

The Ferrari’s seems to be very competitive as Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa started this year, setting the pace on the first day of the first major 2008 test in Jerez.

Kimi Raikkonen made the fastest lap with 1:19:846 with his new Ferrari 2008 after completing 59 laps. His Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa was 3 tenths slower after completing 42 laps. In third place was McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa, three quarters of a second slower than Kimi Raikkonen. Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel and Sebastian Bourdais were fourth and sixth and McLaren’s new driver Heikki Kovalainen was fifth.