The 2012 season gets underway, as cars and drivers take to the track at Jerez for the first day of pre-season testing.

Although it's (very) early days, Kimi Raikkonen (1:20.514) is the early front runner in the Lotus E20, ahead of Kobayashi (above), Massa, Ricciardo and Rosberg, all but the German in their new cars.

Kovalainen, di Resta, Button, Webber and Maldonado have been out for exploratory laps, in their new cars, as has de la Rosa in the 2011 HRT.

It's a little cool (18 degrees) but a lot warmer than where most of the teams have come from, with drivers taking it very easy, keen not to hurt their new babies.

The schedule for this week is as follows:

Today: Webber, Button, Massa, Rosberg (AM), Schumacher (PM), Raikkonen, di Resta, Kobayashi, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Kovalainen and de la Rosa.

Wednesday: Webber, Button, Massa, Schumacher, Raikkonen, di Resta, Perez, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Kovalainen and de la Rosa.

Thursday: Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Perez, Vergne, Senna, Van der Garde and Karthikeyan.

Friday: Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Vergne, Senna, Trulli and Karthikeyan.