Mercedes tops F1 testing in Spain

Mercedes’ 2011 car topped Formula One pre-season testing for a second straight day, while Lotus was quickest of this season’s new batch of competitors on Thursday.

Nico Rosberg was fastest around the Jerez circuit with a lap time of 1 minute, 17.613 seconds to follow up Michael Schumacher’s leading pace a day earlier. Romain Grosjean in a Lotus was the fastest in the 2012 designs, the French driver’s time of 1:18.419 more than eight-tenths of a second faster than two-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who was driving for the first time. Lewis Hamilton’s first spin in the new McLaren placed him fourth ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso, while Fernando Alonso kicked off his Ferrari campaign with the seventh-quickest time. Grosjean’s time was the fastest of the 2012 cars so far after three days of testing, with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen having topped the timesheets in Tuesday’s opening session.  The season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 18.