» Massa’s fiery start in the F150

Felipe Massa’s start to his 2011 title campaign got off the worst possible start in his first pre-season testing outing, with the Brazilian’s Ferrari F150 catching fire after just a handful of laps around the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

The 2008 title runner-up had only experienced a few shakedown laps at Fiorano, but was forced to stop on the side of the track when oil began to leak onto the exhausts, sparking a fire.

With repairs now required, Massa is unlikely to emerge on-track again until about 3pm local time, which has cost the team valuable time in fine-tuning a base set-up for the new car on the new-for-2011 Pirelli tyres.

By contrast, team-mate Fernando Alonso has enjoyed two days of comparatively trouble-free running in the first two days of the Valencia test.

The full test results will follow in due course.

[Original images via LAT and Sutton Images]