Having taken over testing duties from Fernando Alonso for the final day of racing in Valencia, Massa was only able to get 12 laps under his belt before a gas leak caused a fire to breakout in the engine of his F150.Just half an hour into the session, the Brazilian spun at turn five, and while he was able to collect the car, spoke billowed out the back of his Ferrari followed by flames. The Brazilian then entered into another spin after which the car came to a halt, Massa promptly exited the vehicle and the marshals will called to extinguish the blaze.
Needless to say, that was the last that was seen of Ferrari for the morning.
Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher all began their first full day of testing in rather less dramatic fashion, with Button and Schumacher impressing.
After two days fraught with problems, matters look to be improving for Mercedes GP, with Schumacher posting the third fastest time of the morning session with a 1:14.537, 0.108 faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg's quickest lap yesterday.
Beaten out by only Sutil and Button, Schumacher's time was the fastest by a team racing their 2011 challenger.
Schumacher's compatriot in the Force India was the quickest throughout the day, following the lead set by Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta on previous days by showing there is plenty of life left in the VJM03.
Sutil (1:13.201) and Button (1:13.553) were by some way the fastest on track, with Button in second nearly a second faster than Schumacher in third.
One man who will be slightly disappointed with his early running is Mark Webber, with the Australian notching up a 1:14.701, nowhere near as pacey as team-mate Sebastian Vettel was on Tuesday. Webber will certainly be hoping for more in the afternoon session.
There was more furstration for Team Lotus, with the steering problem that put a premature end to their day yesterday, preventing Jarno Trulli from posting a lap time.
Unofficial Times:
01. Adrian Sutil Force India Mercedes 1:13.201 43 laps
02. Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 1:13.553 0.352 34 laps
03. Micahel Schumacher Mercedes 1:14.537 + 1.336 35 laps
04. Mark Webber Red Bull Renault 1:14.584 + 1.383 44 laps
05. Pastor Maldonado Williams Cosworth 1:14.860 1.659 47 laps
06. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:15.107 1.906 31 laps
07. Timo Glock Virgin Cosworth 1:15.613 + 2.412 67 laps
08. Felipe Massa Ferrari1:15.650 + 2.449 12 laps
09. Sergio Perez Sauber Ferrari 1:16.198 + 2.997 33 laps
10. Narain Karthikeyan HRT Cosworth1:16.997 + 3.796 35 laps
11. Robert Kubica Renault 1:27.813 + 14.612 13 laps
Source: Planet-F1
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