Raikkonen fastest in Jerez testing Tuesday, 07 February 2012 23:31

JEREZ de la frontera, Spain: Finland’s 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time in his Lotus-Renault during pre-season testing here yesterday.

The 32-year-old Raikkonen - winner of 18 grands prix - is putting this year’s model through its paces as he returns to Formula One after two years away.

Raikkonen won his 2007 crown with Ferrari before switching to the World Rally Championship in 2009 followed by a spell in Nascar racing.

Double world champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany arrives here on Friday to test the RB8, with his Australian teammate Mark Webber, who is testing the car earlier in the week, clocked the fourth fastest time for Red Bull-Renault on Tuesday.

Testing runs until Friday with further sessions at Barcelona from February 21-24 and March 1-4, before the GP opener in Melbourne, Australia on March 18.

Meanwhile, Adrian Newey emphasised his loyalty to Red Bull yesterday, saying that walking out on the Formula One champions would feel like abandoning his children.

In a clear sign he intended to see out his Formula One career with the British outfit, the design genius that every team in the paddock would like to poach said Red Bull felt very much like family.

“So long as I am enjoying it and people want me to work here, I’ll carry on doing so,” Newey told reporters on the first day of pre-season testing in southern Spain. “I can’t see myself going anywhere else.

“I’ve been involved in the team from very early on, I feel very centrally involved in it and proud we’ve managed to get from the ashes of Jaguar to where we are today.

“That in itself brings a huge amount of satisfaction and the slightly paternal feeling of wanting that to carry on. To now leave for another team would kind of feel a little like walking out on your children in a way.”

Red Bull, who renamed Jaguar after saving that team from being shut down at the end of 2004 when Ford pulled out, have taken both titles for the past two years with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel.

With those successes, Newey has now designed championship-winning cars for three separate teams after drawing world-beaters for Williams and McLaren.

Ferrari have made no secret that he would be top of their wish list.

The track debut of the latest Newey-designed creation is always an eagerly awaited event but early morning fog kept it, and Australian driver Mark Webber, out of sight for longer than intended yesterday.

Newey explained the plane coming in from England with the rear wing assembly, which had been held back for checks after an online launch, had been unable to land in Jerez and was diverted to Seville.

“We were stuck waiting for it to get from Seville to here,” said Newey.

Asked how testing had gone otherwise, he smiled: “Well, it hasn’t caught fire yet and it’s managed to do a few laps.”

The online launch, offering a fleeting glimpse of the car, had shown an intriguing slot at the base of the ramp of the nose into the front bulkhead and raised speculation about whether Newey was up to his tricks again.

The designer said it was simply to cool the driver.

“Traditionally the driver cooling slot is always right at the front of the nose, really for styling as much as anything we moved it to where you now see it just to kind of break up the aesthetics of the ramp that’s required by regulation.”

Asked whether he expected the rules to throw up any controversies between now and the start of the season in Melbourne on March 18, Newey felt it was unlikely but not impossible.

“There’s always a chance that somebody will come up with something that’s right on the border,” he said. Agencies

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