Barcelona Winter Testing – Day 8: Kimi Räikkönen Concludes Testing in Great Form

This time, it’s for real: the F1 teams gathered one last time at the Barcelona circuit for the final day of testing before the big departure for Melbourne. It should be noted that Robert Kubica, who was supposed to take the wheel for this last day, ultimately gave his seat to Lance Stroll so that the Canadian could make up for some of the lost track time last week due to the dreadful weather on the Catalan circuit.

For this final day of the 2018 winter testing, the complete list of drivers was composed of: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Esteban Ocon (Force India), Sergey Sirotkin (Williams), Carlos Sainz (Renault), Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso), Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Romain Grosjean (Haas), and Charles Leclerc (Sauber). In the afternoon, Valtteri Bottas took over from Lewis Hamilton, Williams’ Lance Stroll replaced Sergey Sirotkin, and finally, Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg took the place of Carlos Sainz.

On the weather front, this session began with temperatures of 7.2°C in the air and 22.2°C on the track.

The least that can be said is that this day was once again complicated for McLaren since Fernando Alonso’s turbo lasted only five short laps before a major oil leak caused the first red flag of the day when the MCL33 stopped in turn 7. This forced the Woking team to make another change on its power unit and turbo for this time.

Shortly after, Charles Leclerc was caught off guard, went into the gravel trap, and even hit the wall with the rear of his car, which caused a second red flag in a short period of time. The Monégasque quickly acknowledged his mistake and apologized to the team.

Very happy about the pace. But pushed too much, spun and touched the wall a little bit. Stupid to do that at this time of the day, I will learn from it. Hopefully back on track soon. pic.twitter.com/w9gIHXZE7n

— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) March 9, 2018

The third team to have encountered difficulties during this final rehearsal was Renault. The French team was stuck in its garage for a good part of the morning due to a stubborn gearbox.

Far from these considerations, Kimi Räikkönen was able to run without encountering any particular problems and always at a solid pace. He thus set the best time of the morning at 1:18.238. Romain Grosjean was the surprise guest with a time of 1:18.590, as was Brendon Hartley with 1:18.949. The Toro Rosso driver was also extremely diligent on track, completing 78 laps, the highest total of the morning. Lewis Hamilton had to be content with fourth place with a time of 1:19.464.

If all these times were far from the unofficial record set yesterday by Sebastian Vettel, it is mainly because they were achieved on super softs while the Ferrari driver was equipped with hyper softs, which are two grades softer than the tires of the day.

But the Finn did not fail to use the same tires at the end of the morning to calibrate himself since Pirelli announced that they would be used in competition for the first time in Montreal. This immediately translated on track, with a time of 1’17″221, just a breath away from the performance set by his teammate.

As we approach non-lunchtime, Kimi sits atop the lap times

He’s improved to a 1:17.221, achingly close to that unofficial lap record 👀#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/yGguEyRinH

— Formula 1 (@F1) 9 mars 2018

At 1 p.m., no lunch break was planned to make up for the time lost in the first week. At that moment, the track activity was very limited, however. While Valtteri Bottas was taking over from Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, Esteban Ocon set his best time on hypersofts with a 1:18.976.

This lull allowed us to look into the number of laps completed so far by the drivers. The most diligent were Lewis Hamilton (97 laps), Brendon Hartley (91 laps), Romain Grosjean (81 laps), ahead of Sergey Sirotkin (72 laps), Esteban Ocon (69 laps), Kimi Räikkönen (66 laps), Daniel Ricciardo (47 laps), Charles Leclerc (18 laps), Fernando Alonso (7 laps), and Carlos Sainz (4 laps).

Finally, Renault announced that Carlos Sainz would not be replaced by Nico Hülkenberg for the afternoon sessions due to gearbox problems that kept the Spaniard in the garage all morning. Around 2 PM, Valtteri Bottas made his first appearance on track on medium tires, setting a 1.19.001. Then, miraculously, Fernando Alonso reappeared on the track after several hours of repairs on his McLaren. Over several laps, the double world champion clocked a best time of 1.19.192. McLaren eventually broke their silence, stating that a turbo issue was responsible for this long absence.

Fernando fires up and heads out onto the sun-soaked @Circuitcat_eng track. #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/s89erbS4DG

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 9, 2018

This phase of testing, around 3 PM, gave way to long stints for Esteban Ocon, Kimi Räikkönen, and Romain Grosjean in particular. A little later, Sergey Sirotkin, who had completed more than 100 laps so far, handed over to Lance Stroll for the remaining three hours. The Canadian, along with Charles Leclerc, soon joined the track.

While there were only two hours of routing left in these tests, the sun continued to shine on the Catalan circuit. Charles Leclerc took advantage of this to clock a time of 1.20.379, while Kimi Räikkönen completed his one-hundred-twentieth lap. A few moments later, Carlos Sainz returned to the track after more than 5 hours and 30 minutes of forced stop due to a defective gearbox. It was then Valtteri Bottas’s turn to improve his best time on mediums with a lap of 1.18.923. The Spaniard from Renault went on to complete several fast laps, reaching 1.19.214 on super-softs.

After a longer than hoped for (#understatement) degremlinisation @Carlossainz55 returns to the @Circuitcat_eng track #RSspirit #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/XM2zAWxc1z

— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) 9 mars 2018

There was only one last hour left to observe the entire field on track with the sky slightly covering. Curiously, Ricciardo’s Red Bull hadn’t reappeared on track for an hour while many cars were running race simulations. As the Australian finally appeared on track, Charles Leclerc was still improving his times on hyper-soft tires (1.19.450), while Romain Grosjean had already completed 150 laps. The Red Bull started timed laps on super-softs, even securing a second time at 1.18.327. Fernando Alonso, also in the quick lap exercise, improved with a best time on ultra-softs at 1.19.117. Lance Stroll also improved his best time but remained in last place.

Half an hour from the end, Carlos Sainz’s Renault retook second position by posting a best lap of 1:18.082 on hyper-soft tires. Certainly, the final moments were dedicated to a show by the two Iberian drivers, with a stunning 1:17.724 achieved by Fernando Alonso in his McLaren, on the same tires as his compatriot. The McLaren driver continued to push for improvement, but his 1:16.720 lap was canceled, as the Spaniard had cut the chicane in the final sector.

#F1Testing done!🏁 Here are today’s final results @Circuitcat_eng

(Spoiler: softer and faster news from #Pirelli available here https://t.co/TeCixOdvcn!) pic.twitter.com/QDlS5In1DQ

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) 9 mars 2018

This is how the two weeks of testing on the Barcelona circuit concluded. It’s challenging at this stage to draw real lessons from these pre-season tests, but what is certain is that Formula 1 now invites you to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 22 to 25.