Massa tops on first day in Valencia

Ferrari's Felipe Massa showed little after effects of the frightening accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix that almost ended his career last season by putting up the best time on Formula One's first day of pre-season testing at Valencia in Spain.

Massa was struck in the helmet by a spring that fell off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn in qualifying and narrowly missed being killed. He needed the rest of 2009 tyo recover from the incident.

His time of 1 minute 12.574 seconds was two-tenths better than veteran Pedro de la Rosa who returns to a race seat with Sauber after serving as a test and reserve driver from McLaren for several years.

Michael Schumacher didn't take long to shake off the rust, finishing the day with the thrid best time, about four-tenths back of Massa. Significantly, Schumacher was almost six-tenths quicker than new teammate Nico Rosberg.

Times below:

1.   Massa   Ferrari   1:12.574   102 laps

2.   de la Rosa   Sauber   1:12.784   +0.210   74 laps

3.   Schumacher   Mercedes   1:12.947    +0.373   40 laps

4.   Rosberg   Mercedes   1:13.543    +0.969   39 laps

5.   Paffett   McLaren-Mercedes   1:13.846    +1.272   86 laps

6.   Barrichello   Williams   1:14.449    +1.875   75 laps

7.   Buemi   Toro Rosso   1:14.762    +2.188    18 laps

8.   Kubica   Renault   1:15.000    +2.426    69 laps