Barcelona private tests: Mercedes doesn’t give up!

The weather was nice in Barcelona when the drivers hit the track for the second private tests of the season. No less than fifteen drivers had the opportunity to complete over 100 laps. Significant mileage that allows teams to gather additional data and better understand the behavior of their cars.

At the end of these two days of testing, it was Valtteri Bottas who recorded the fastest lap, just a few tenths off his Saturday pole position. A lap time of 1:15.511 achieved with the softest tires, the C5. The next day, Nikita Mazepin confirmed the impressive form of the Silver Arrows with the second-fastest lap of these tests. A lap completed in 1:15.775 after 128 laps. The young Russian driver had already conducted Formula 1 tests with Force India in 2016.

The native of Moscow was thrilled with his run in the W10: It’s every young driver’s dream to drive such a car. Today, mine became reality, so I am really happy. A successful day on the right track as well, we gathered most of the data we intended to collect, we encountered no issues, and from my side, I thought I could deliver consistently throughout the day, which is important for the team.

Ending #F1Testing on top! 💪 Nikita hits 128 laps on ‘dream’ first day in W10 👉 https://t.co/6i09Bgugdz pic.twitter.com/tNzoNsiBKT

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) May 15, 2019

Further down the order, we find Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari with the third-best time over the two days. Even though the times from these two days should be taken with a grain of salt, the Monegasque is still more than 1 second behind Bottas. The Scuderia driver was back behind the wheel of the SF90, but this time for the Pirelli tests, just like his garage mate, Sebastian Vettel, who completed 132 laps.

The two main drivers from Maranello were not the only ones to have driven. Indeed, Antonio Fuoco, a young protégé of the prancing horse team, was able to sit in the cockpit of an F1 for the first time since 2016. The young Italian driver completed 120 laps with a best reference time of 1’17.284.

One can notably highlight Alexander Albon’s impressive performance behind the wheel of his Toro Rosso, who set the second-fastest time on Tuesday with a lap completed in 1’17’079. His teammate Daniil Kvyat is only a few tenths behind the Thai driver. Two rather productive days for the Faenza team, which has managed to score points on four different occasions since the start of the season.

The driver who has completed the most laps is Nicholas Latifi with 133 laps to his name. The Canadian, currently the leader of the Formula 2 championship, is seen as a potential replacement for Robert Kubica at Williams. Unfortunately, he does not have enough points on his super license, making it theoretically impossible for him to be appointed in the top category of motorsport.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who was the fastest of them all? You don’t need supernatural powers to find out: just a pair of eyes 👀 👇🏁@Circuitcat_eng #F1testing pic.twitter.com/Pi7d0KmSH6

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) 15 mai 2019