After two days with Felipe Massa behind the wheel of the new F10, finally it’s Fernando Alonso’s day today, the  Spanish driver making his official debut behind the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 single-seater this morning in front of a huge media scrum.

After two days with Felipe Massa behind the wheel of the new F10, finally it’s Fernando Alonso’s day today, the  Spanish driver making his official debut behind the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 single-seater this morning in front of a huge media scrum. The F10 with the number 8 emblazoned on it went onto the track for the first time with Alonso at exactly 10:01 AM for the installation lap. After the usual checks everything was ready for the first run, but a red flag, due to a car stopped on the track, delayed it.

Alonso's debut in red has aroused a lot of interest. The circuit’s management foresees at least 30,000 spectators turning up today, while before the track even opened in the morning there were traffic jams at the highway exit. When Alonso left and entered the box with the car numerous cameramen and photographers tried to take their pictures, complicating the mechanic’s work, but underlining the enormous interest in the new coupling of Alonso and Ferrari.

The Scuderia's technical programme for today is more or less the same as it was for Felipe Massa over the last two days of testing at the circuit in Valencia. The first objective is to find a basic set up for the F10 single-seater and to then start with the first regulations. Furthermore the team will work with the new Bridgestone tyres and on the car’s behaviour with different fuel loads.

Massa posted the fastest time during the first two days of testing in Valencia on Monday and yesterday, proving that the new F10 single-seater has plenty of potential and by lunchtime today Alonso was the fastest driver out on the track having quickly moved to the top of the timesheets after just a handful of laps in the new car.

At midday his best lap of 1:11.599 put him an impressive half a second clear of his fellow Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in the Ferrari-powered BMW Sauber who posted a quickest time of 1:12.094 in the sponsor-less C29 which has been closest runner to the Maranello machines over the opening two days of the test. Former Ferrari star Michael Schumacher (1:12.438) was third quickest in the Mercedes GP, ahead of another Spaniard, this time youngster Jaime Alguersuari (1:12.576) who was getting his first taste of the new Ferrari-engined Toro Rosso STR5, while reigning F1 champion Jenson Button (1:13.498) was fifth in what is his first day behind the wheel of the new McLaren-Mercedes. New boys Nico Hulkenberg (1:13.959) and Vitaly Petrov (1:14.009) brought up the rear of the seven drivers on track.