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Jerez action begins

On track action resumed this morning at Jerez, Spain, as the last test of 2007 got underway with all teams present.

Much of the interest surrounds driver choices, with Kimi Raikkonen returning to action for Ferrari today, and several fresh faces in the line up.

Alongside Raikkonen today is Marc Gene, the Spaniard getting a rare outing for Ferrari before he is replaced by Felipe Massa for the remaining three days tomorrow. Massa will drive alongside Michael Schumacher on Thursday and Friday, hence denying the fans a showdown between the German and the new World Champion.

Mclaren have regular test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett running today with the silver cars wearing Ferrari-type wheel shrouds for the first time, while Lewis Hamilton will join de la Rosa for tomorrow and Thursday, with no scheduled running from Mclaren for the final day.

A lot of interest is focused on the BMW team as they try out Spanish GP2 star Javier Villa this morning, with rising Estonian star Marko Asmer due to run this afternoon. These two will be aiming at a benchmark set by regular driver Nick Heidfeld in their quest to impress with the third driver role at BMW recently vacated. Heidfeld will be joined by Robert Kubica for tomorrow and Thursday, with Asmer pencilled in for another run on Friday.

Renault, on the eve of a potentially damaging WMSC hearing later this week, have Nelson Piquet Jnr – hotly tipped for a race seat in 2008 – on track alone for three days, and no running scheduled for Friday.

Honda are also running only one ‘works’ car, with Jenson Button running today, Rubens Barrichello for the next two and Anthony Davidson – confusingly – scheduled to run for the final day.

More interest at Toyota where Timo Glock, freshly released from BMW, makes his debut for the team. The German GP2 Champion is down to run all four days with Kamui Kobayashi – the team’s new third driver – also running today and tomorrow, and Jarno Trulli back in action for the final two days.

Red Bull have Mark Webber running solo today, with the Australian expected to be joined by David Coulthard for tomorrow and Thursday before the Scot has a day alone on Friday, while sister team Toro Rosso have Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel in action on all four days in the Ferrari engined STR2.

Williams have been the subject of interest, too, with young German star Nico Hulkenberg – a Willi Weber protégé – running today alongside Kazuki Nakajima. The youngster – being considered for the vacant third driver role – gets another run tomorrow, alongside countryman and namesake Nico Rosberg, with the two race drivers scheduled to run on the remaining two days.

Super Aguri – really a satellite Honda test team – have Mike Conway back in the car today alongside James Rossiter, Andreas Zuber running tomorrow with Anthony Davidson for company, Luca Filippi shadowing Takuma Sato on Thursday, and Sato alone on Friday.

But if you thought that confusing, Force India have Franck Montagny and Giancarlo Fisichella in the car today, Christian Klien and Fisichella running tomorrow, Tonio Liuzzi and Ralf Schumacher scheduled for Thursday, and Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez running on Friday – and no Adrian Sutil to be seen.

Written: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:22:18