Barcelona Testing 2 – The Four-Day Summary

During winter testing, all teams stick to their planned program without worrying about their rivals, although observation is the norm in the paddock. Therefore, it’s difficult to get a clear picture of the hierarchy, and even though the season is fast approaching, these last four days of pre-season testing haven’t allowed for a fully precise idea of the upcoming hierarchy.

The ranking of the best laps by driver:

If it is difficult to fully trust the lap times recorded by various drivers to get a precise idea of the hierarchy, one can still observe these different times. At the top, we find a battle between Ferrari and Mercedes drivers, with Nico Rosberg leading ahead of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Felipe Massa.

Followed next in a slightly more scattered order are the McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Sauber, and Force India drivers. With the exception of Davide Valsecchi, who has limited experience in F1 and drove little on Saturday morning to step in for a sick Kimi Räikkönen, at the bottom of this ranking are the Toro Rosso, Caterham, and Marussia drivers, which is not necessarily a good omen for the Italian team that has struggled to find its pace since the start of these F1 tests.

The ranking of the number of laps completed by each driver:

The Spanish Grand Prix, held in recent years at the Circuit de Catalunya, offers drivers 66 laps. During these four days of testing, the majority of drivers were able to cover much more than the Grand Prix distance, with the exception of Kimi Räikkönen, who only covered 50 laps, and Davide Valsecchi (16 laps), but the Italian will not be starting in Melbourne.

Late confirmed by Marussia, Jules Bianchi was still able to cover the trifling sum of 136 laps during his day and a half of driving the MR02. His teammate, Max Chilton, fully took advantage of the time spent behind the wheel of the Russian team’s car, with the Brit finishing the tests with the 5th highest number of laps covered.

He is only preceded by the two Mercedes drivers, Rosberg and Hamilton, and the two Ferrari drivers, Alonso and Massa. Drivers from the smaller teams are particularly prominent in this track attendance ranking, notably with Charles Pic in 7th place (199 laps completed) and Giedo Van der Garde in 12th place (174 laps).

The drivers of some “big” teams therefore spent less time on the track in Barcelona, notably those from Williams, Red Bull, and Force India.

The ranking of the number of laps completed by team:

After a laborious start in Jerez, the Mercedes team has rebounded well, as evidenced by the fact that the F1 W04 was the car that completed the most laps during the second Barcelona test with 471 laps. It was ahead of the Ferrari F138 and the McLaren MP4-28. At the bottom of this ranking, we find the Lotus E21, which encountered some problems during these four days, the Williams FW35, and the Red Bull RB9.