After two days of testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, this morning was a time for change within many of the teams, so that World Champion Sebastian Vettel turned up to take over from Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing, Fernando Alonso stepped in for Felipe Massa at Ferrari and Roman Grosjean replaced Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus, with Lewis Hamilton driving the McLaren instead of Jenson Button.
And here in the Toro Rosso camp, Jean-Eric Vergne stepped into the cockpit vacated by Daniel Ricciardo. It was a big day for the Frenchman, it being his first test drive as an official fully fledged Formula 1 driver, but he said he preferred not think about this “extraordinary side of the job” and concentrate on the work of the day.
After Michael Schumacher was fastest yesterday, it was the turn of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to top today’s time sheet, while father and former World Champ Keke was scooting about the paddock on a scooter. Up until today, the paddock had been relatively quiet, but the arrival of the man from Oviedo, aka Fernando Alonso, meant the paddock was packed with guests and hangers on who had managed to sneak into the track. Our hospitality area is right next door to Ferrari’s and given that Scuderia Toro Rosso was hosting a party of guests from Spanish sponsor Cepsa, it was hard to move round our little bit of the paddock. Friday sees Vergne in the cockpit for the second and last day, with two tests in Barcelona then looming on the horizon.
All Change