Vettel heads the final morning session in Barcelona

  • Published on 01 Mar 2019 13:01
  • comments 9
  • By: Fergal Walsh

Sebastian Vettel has topped the final morning of winter testing in Barcelona, setting the fastest time we've seen so far, a 1:16.221.

The German ended the session three-tenths ahead of Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes gave a glimpse into its short run pace. Daniil Kvyat and Carlis Sainz were third and fourth, and were the only other two drivers to break into the 1:16's.

The session ended under a red flag caused by Kimi Raikkonen. The Alfa Romeo ground to a halt in the final minutes of the session. The Finn set the seventh fastest time, behind Romain Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo.

Following Pierre Gasly's big crash in the Red Bull on Thursday, the energy drink squad didn't set many laps on Friday morning. With Max Verstappen behind the wheel, the five-time Grand Prix winner clocked 29 laps.

Sergio Perez was ninth for Racing Point, while Robert Kubica rounded out the top ten.

ES Circuit de Catalunya - 01 March 2019

I would like to assume this: 1. Ferrari and Merc are closely matched 2. Redbull following them closely 3. ToroRosso, Renault, Mclaren and Sauber are very closely matched 4. Haas and Racing point will join the mid field party if they fix hiccups of development 5. Williams is deadlast.

  • 1
  • Mar 1 2019 - 18:17
Photos Barcelona, March 1, 2019

Replies (9)

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  • I would like to assume this: 1. Ferrari and Merc are closely matched 2. Redbull following them closely 3. ToroRosso, Renault, Mclaren and Sauber are very closely matched 4. Haas and Racing point will join the mid field party if they fix hiccups of development 5. Williams is deadlast.

    • + 1
    • Mar 1 2019 - 18:17
    • It seems that Red Bull has been having some issues. Honda reliability problems rearing their ugly head? Agree, it looks like the midfield is pretty evenly matched barring hiccups. Let's hope they get them ironed out as the season gets under way. BRING ON THE RACING!

      • + 1
      • Mar 1 2019 - 19:35
    • @mchbhargav, that seems about right. I do expect STR to take a decent leap with the assets they've drawn from RBH. And Williams... Oh Williams... You break out heart... Riiiight tooo the eeeeend... Just like a friiieeeend... We triiieeed to warn yoou.. Soomehooooow... You've had yooour waaaaay, now you must paaay... Im (not) glad that you're sorry nooooow...

      @RAM YEAH! LET'S DO THIS!!! As for Red Bull: they were struggling with Gearbox woes the entire day today after Gasly's crash. How much of their other issues (the few I've head of?) were Honda-related, heaven knows.

      • + 0
      • Mar 1 2019 - 21:00
  • Liking that overhead shot of the cars, especially the Ferrari. That orange-red color with the M/W highlights looks like tiger striping. The Alfa looks great from above as well. I would sure like to see some data or chart showing how the teams did on long runs and how they did with the various tire compounds. Haven't seen that kind of analysis anywhere.

    • + 0
    • Mar 1 2019 - 19:33
    • Which is good. The tighter the better. Hopefully they can close in on merc and ferrari too.

      • + 0
      • Mar 1 2019 - 21:27
  • Having thoroughly analyzed winter testing, here's what I come up with:
    The fastest laps of winter testing per driver
    Driver Team Test Day Tyre Lap Time
    Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.221
    Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.224
    Charles Leclerc Ferrari Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:16.231
    Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.561
    Nico Hulkenberg Renault Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.843
    Alex Albon Toro Rosso Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:16.882
    Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.898
    Carlos Sainz McLaren Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.913
    Romain Grosjean Haas Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:17.076
    Lando Norris McLaren Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.084
    Pierre Gasly Red Bull Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.091
    Daniel Ricciardo Renault Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:17.114
    Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:17.239
    Lance Stroll Racing Point Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.556
    Kevin Magnussen Haas Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.565
    Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.639
    Max Verstappen Red Bull Day Eight C3 (Softs) 1:17.709
    Sergio Perez Racing Point Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:17.791
    George Russell Williams Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:18.130
    Robert Kubica Williams Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:18.993
    Pietro Fittipaldi Haas Day Three C4 (2nd softest) 1:19.249

    Compound 1 is the hardest tyre, Compound 5 is the softest.
    The fastest laps of winter testing per team
    Team Driver Test Day Tyre Time
    Ferrari Sebastian Vettel Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.221
    Mercedes Lewis Hamilton Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.224
    Renault Nico Hulkenberg Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.843
    Toro Rosso Alex Albon Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:16.882
    McLaren Carlos Sainz Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:16.913
    Haas Romain Grosjean Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:17.076
    Red Bull Pierre Gasly Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.091
    Alfa Romeo Kimi Raikkonen Day Eight C5 (Softest) 1:17.239
    Racing Point Lance Stroll Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:17.556
    Williams George Russell Day Seven C5 (Softest) 1:18.130
    The fastest laps of winter testing per tyre
    Tyre Lap Time Driver Team Test Day
    C5 (Softest) 1:16.221 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Day Eight
    C4 (2nd softest) 1:16.628 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Day Eight
    C3 (Softs) 1:16.720 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Day Eight
    C2 (2nd hardest) 1:18.097 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Day Seven
    The most laps completed per team after Day Eight
    Team Number of laps
    Mercedes 1,190
    Ferrari 997
    Renault 961
    Toro Rosso 935
    Alfa Romeo 922
    McLaren 874
    Haas 871
    Red Bull 833
    Racing Point 625
    Williams 567
    The most laps completed by engine provider after Day Eight
    Team Number of laps
    Ferrari (3 teams) 2,790
    Mercedes (3 teams) 2,382
    Renault (2 teams) 1,835
    Honda (2 teams) 1,768

    • + 1
    • Mar 1 2019 - 20:17
    • So according to those stats, the Merc' teams have done less laps compared to the other three, with a mean of 794, while Ferrari have done the most (mean 930). I don't read in all too much in that though, since Williams were off to a late start, but it's interesting how close it is other than that. To the point that I only really think other issues and different running programmes impacted the amount of laps the teams made more than actual reliability concerns.

      • + 0
      • Mar 1 2019 - 20:57
    • It looks like more teams potentially vying for 3rd at about .6 second behind the front two.

      • + 0
      • Mar 1 2019 - 21:05
    • Did you take Red Bull's tendency of "sleeping" into consideration though? Come to think of it, RB never went into training with all that impressive laptimes, and look where they came out during e.g 2019.

      • + 0
      • Mar 2 2019 - 07:21

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