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Vettel heads the final morning session in Barcelona

Published on 01 Mar 2019 13:01
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.

Circuit de Catalunya - 01 March 2019

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:16.221

110
2

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:16.224

+0.003

61
3

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:16.561

+0.340

71
4

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:16.842

+0.621

51
5

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso

1:16.898

+0.677

131
6

Carlos Sainz jr

McLaren

1:16.913

+0.692

134
7

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:17.076

+0.855

73
8

Daniel Ricciardo

Renault

1:17.114

+0.893

52
9

Kimi Räikkönen

Alfa Romeo Racing

1:17.239

+1.018

132
10

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:17.565

+1.344

94
11

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:17.709

+1.488

29
12

Sergio Perez

Racing Point

1:17.791

+1.570

104
13

Robert Kubica

Williams

1:18.993

+2.772

90

mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332

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

Open the whole photo album

F1 News Sebastian Vettel Ferrari

Replies (9)

mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
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
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  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
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  @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
Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
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
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Which is good. The tighter the better. Hopefully they can close in on merc and ferrari too.
  + 0
  
  Mar 1 2019 - 21:27
Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
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
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  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
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  It looks like more teams potentially vying for 3rd at about .6 second behind the front two.
  + 0
  
  Mar 1 2019 - 21:05
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  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