Felipe Massa returned to a competitive Formula One car on Monday and the Ferrari driver was fastest in a morning testing session - his first since a life-threatening crash last summer.
Massa led the seven-car field at Valencia’s Cheste Circuit to start a three-day test session with a best lap time of 1 minute, 13.088 seconds. Massa, who completed 32 laps, was nearly two-tenths of a second faster than Pedro De la Rosa of Sauber.
Massa, 28, suffered a skull fracture during a crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix last July. The Brazilian underwent lifesaving surgery and missed the remainder of the season.
Massa has driven several older model Ferraris since late last year, but Monday’s outing was the first in the new F10 car.
