Brits on Pole

BMW Sauber tester Christian Klien put down a marker for his team in the first full day of Jerez testing after topping the unofficial timesheets.

This weekend presented a host of options for motorsport fans - you could take your pick from DTM at Brands Hatch, BTCC at Silverstone or Superleague Formula at Donington Park. But wherever you went, you couldn’t escape the weather.

McLaren test driver Gary Paffett says he believes the DTM touring car series, in which he currently races, offers fans better value for money than Formula One.

Yeah, yeah, we know. DTM is tin-top, and we’re supposed to be about open-wheel racing. But we like an excuse to catch up with what Katherine Legge is doing.

Sebastian Vettel’s timesheet-topping performance on the first day of Jerez testing was overshadowed after a malfunctioning component on Christian Klien’s BMW injured a team mechanic.

Every year in F1 it’s a toss-up exactly how early speculation about the drivers’ market will get going. And this year, with several factors making things much more lively and unpredictable than in 2007, it’s happening very early indeed.

Ferrari tester Luca Badoer topped the timesheet on the first day of Barcelona testing - but didn’t have things entirely his own way. On an opening day that featured unpredictable weather, starting sunny then gradually clouding over until a thunderstorm forced the eight teams testing to abandon the track an hour earlier than expected, BMW’s Robert Kubica and Red Bull’s David Coulthard pushed him a close second and third.

An awful lot of would-be racing drivers probably think Gary Paffett’s got it made - as McLaren’s test driver he’s got a job to die for, regularly getting his hands on one of the world’s top racing machines. On the other hand, what does it feel like to be just one step away from one of motorsport’s top jobs - piloting a car capable of winning the F1 World Championship but perpetually in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, unable to actually compete?

Lewis Hamilton’s had his first go in the new McLaren MP4-23 during a testing session at Jerez - and he seems pretty pleased with the outcome. He hailed the session as ‘fantastic’ - and was clearly keen to take his turn behind the wheel after finding himself third in line behind fellow drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Pedro de la Rosa for a crack at the circuit.

Lewis Hamilton’s new team-mate at McLaren is to be Heikki Kovalainen, the team revealed yesterday. Pedro de la Rosa, the other serious contender for the seat, is to remain as the team’s third driver while Gary Paffett will continue as a test driver.