Ferrari's Felipe Massa topped the timesheets at Yas Island today as all twelve teams finally got their hands on the new Pirelli rubber they will be using in 2011.

The Brazilian completed 94 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1.40.170, out-pacing newly-crowned world champion Sebastian Vettel by 0.330s.

"It was a positive start to begin to understand the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres," said Massa at the end of the session. "I felt at ease right from the start and there were no unpleasant surprises.

"We tried two different types and acquired a lot of data which will be useful for the Italian company to develop the tyres still further for the start of the 2011 season: on the hards, there were some difficulties over a long run while the softs worked well both on the very first lap and also after they had done a larger number of laps."

"I wish to take this opportunity to welcome back Pirelli to Formula 1," added team boss Domenicali. "It is nice to see two symbols of Italian excellence together on track. I am sure that Pirelli will make a very important contribution to our sport in terms of professionalism and technical research."

Sebastian Vettel was back at the wheel of the RB6, just five days after taking his historic title at the same venue. With four sets of Pirelli tyres available for the first day, Red Bull Racing used the opportunity to gain as much information as possible about them and understand how they work with the car, ahead of the 2011 season.

"It was all about the tyres today," said Vettel, "as this was the first chance we have had to try them out and work with them to develop the car's set-up for next year. I think the tyres behaved well, better than expected given the short amount of time Pirelli have had and they've done a good job. Pirelli are obviously in the middle of their development and what we used today is not what we will race with, but it was a good start. The circuit was in good condition and we had blue skies all day.

"It was great to be back in the car after an incredible week," he continued, "I went to Salzburg on Monday morning for a TV show and press conference and then to the UK to say thanks to the team in Milton Keynes, that was quite emotional. It's nice for me and the team to be able to enjoy our success, but 2011 started today and I was focusing on the tyres and getting to know them - I think we have learned quite a lot."

For McLaren, weho had Gary Paffett on duty, first impressions of the tyre were positive, with basic balance and performance similar to that of the Bridgestone. The day was mostly spent gathering comparative tyre data, but the Woking team also managed to put some miles on a number of proposed components for next season