Barcelona Winter Testing II – Day 1: Norris Shows Up, Mercedes Stops in the Afternoon!

The final sprint to Melbourne began this Tuesday morning. After the first four days of testing last week, it’s time for the second block of pre-season testing, until Friday evening, still on the Catalunya circuit. 10 cars and 13 drivers took part in this fifth day of winter testing, with Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault respectively sharing the seat between their two drivers.

Lando Norris sets the benchmark at the end of the day

The young Briton clearly had a day with ups and downs. In terms of performance, Lando Norris set the fastest time at 5:30 PM, half an hour before the end of the day. Equipped with C5 tires, the softest range offered by Pirelli, the 2018 F2 vice-champion clocked a time of 1:17.709, four-tenths slower than Nico Hülkenberg’s absolute benchmark last Thursday.

But the leader of the timing sheet achieved his time amidst concerns! Under the watchful eyes of Fernando Alonso, who came as a spectator, Lando Norris finished his day at a standstill on the track, causing the last red flag of the day. The culprit was a hydraulic leak detected on the MCL34 since this morning, which limited running time. Lando Norris still managed to add some race simulations to his checklist, proving the potential of this new McLaren.

Just behind in the standings, the beautiful confirmation comes from Red Bull and Pierre Gasly. As announced, the Austrian car is gradually revealing its potential in pure speed. On the C3 (medium) tires, the Frenchman outpaced Vettel’s Ferrari, which was also on the same tire. This afternoon, both drivers actually battled for the top spot in the standings, before being displaced by Norris, and Force India’s Lance Stroll even inserted himself at 5:20 PM.

But between Red Bull and Ferrari, it was indeed the Austrian team that was the most diligent today: on the reliability front, a cooling issue that emerged at 10 AM disrupted the progress of the Reds, then led by Charles Leclerc. The problem lingered until mid-afternoon, with Vettel taking over afterwards.

To complete this top 5, Alfa Romeo and its great promises, symbolized today by Antonio Giovinazzi’s lap time (best time of the morning), ahead of Alexander Albon’s Toro Rosso or Kévin Magnussen’s Haas. Common point between these cars? A time achieved with the super-soft tire, C4.

The W10 stuck in the garage!

The fact is rare enough to be noted: the Mercedes only completed seven small laps this afternoon, hit by an oil pressure problem. The issue occurred around 2:30 PM, at the start of Valtteri Bottas’s program, who had taken over from Lewis Hamilton, who completed 83 laps this morning. The Finn just completed an installation lap before stopping at the third corner. Back in the garage, the engine was changed, and the German car finally returned to the track 10 minutes before the end of the day for six additional laps. As for the timing, neither Hamilton nor Bottas set significant benchmarks, equipped with hard tires (C2).

The world champion team was counting a lot on this day, arriving in Barcelona with a new front wing, more broken than the version seen last week. Another visible innovation, the more curved sidepods of the W10.

Mercedes running lots of updates this morning. Nose, front wing, floor, sidepods, t-wing…#AMuS pic.twitter.com/JKtJxkLLmf

— Tobi Grüner 🏁 (@tgruener) 26 February /f1/actualite/23142-essais-hivernaux-barcelone-que-retenir-de-la-premiere-semaine-.html

More track time but not much more flattering rankings for the two Renault drivers. On the C3 tires, Daniel Ricciardo (10th) and Nico Hülkenberg (13th) held back. On the other hand, reliability is on point, with the French car being the one that stayed on track the longest today with a total of 157 laps.

What does @HulkHülkenberg think of reliability so far?

It’s 🆒👌 #F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/LXnDpNDh4x

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 26

In the consistency department, honorable mention goes to Kevin Magnussen, the most regular driver of the day with 131 laps in his Haas. Let’s also applaud the revival of Williams, who finally surpassed the 100-lap mark on the Montmelo asphalt! George Russell was the only driver in the FW42 on Tuesday, with Robert Kubica taking over tomorrow.

Moreover, six teams have crossed this fateful line: Red Bull (136), Toro Rosso (103), Ferrari (110), Haas (131), Williams (119), Renault (157). It is worth noting that the four engine manufacturers are represented on this list. Will it be the same tomorrow for the second day of this second week in Barcelona?

Five days of pre-season testing down, three to go. Here’s how the runners and riders looked at the end of Tuesday #F1testing #Fit4F1 pic.twitter.com/vz5PvZYTT0

— Pirelli Motorsport (@Pirellisport) 26 février /f1/actualite/23142-essais-hivernaux-barcelone-que-retenir-de-la-premiere-semaine-.html