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Nico Hulkenberg has topped the final day of test one from the Circuit de Catalunya.
The German set a 1:17.393, the fastest time that has been set so far this week. Hulkenberg clocked the time in the afternoon session, as Alexander Albon held the top spot after the first four hours of running.
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Despite holding the top spot, Hulkenberg's session ended prematurely after he stopped out on track with an hour to go. The incident brought out a red flag, one of four from the day, as Lando Norris caused one early on this morning after sliding into the gravel.
Antonio Giovinazzi brought out the third red flag towards the end of the day, stopping at the end of the pit lane. The session concluded as Giovinazzi stopped on track once more in the final seconds of the test.
Daniel Ricciardo was third for Renault, heading the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The Silver Arrows showed a bit more pace on Thursday after racking up mileage over the last three days.
Charles Leclerc was sixth in the Ferrari, ahead of Lando Norris and Giovinazzi. The Haas pair of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top ten.
Pierre Gasly was eleventh for Red Bull, ahead of Lance Stroll in the Racing Point. At the bottom of the timesheets were the two Williams' of George Russell and Robert Kubica.
Circuit de Catalunya - 21 February 2019
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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Replies (5)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Another good day all in all. Aside from Williams of course. I wonder why Renault ran so few laps. Seems like they practised for pace rather than attempting to get laps in, but even then, less than 40 laps per car ain't all that good.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Next week should be interesting since they will start to show more speed. Look like the PUs are bulletproof at the moment; that will change with increased temp and power demands. It's closer than we think at the top and I predict 0.4s between the top 3-4 drivers. We haven't seen the latest RBR specification yet, that might come out next week.
With regards to Renault; I don't believe that their are having issues since McLaren completed 132 laps.
Mind I am impressed with reliability from Honda and everyone seems to be happy with them.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
All that said, glad to see the Hulk at the top of the timesheets, not that it means much at this point in the season, but better than last, unless you're in a Merc.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Yeah Boudy, I agree. Let's see what happens when they put the engines in party mode. Sounds like all engine manufacturers will have it this year.
Norbert
Posts: 108
The faded denim car makes good. Not huge lap count as they were yanking the car to the pits to add and subtract and adjust this and that after getting some getting some data at least for each test scenario. Pace wise Williams were running Haas and Renault first day times, so phew. Look forward to next Tuesday.