Barcelona Winter Testing II – Day 2: McLaren Confirms Its Good Form, Vettel in the Wall
For this second day of the second week of winter testing, McLaren continues to lead the standings with Carlos Sainz's good lap time while Ferrari and Vettel stumble.
We are reaching the end of these winter tests, and even though any trend should be taken with caution, a certain hierarchy is beginning to emerge. For this second day, only Renault, Mercedes, and Ferrari shared the driving between their two drivers.
After Leclerc’s minor issues yesterday, it’s his teammate’s turn to fall victim to bad luck. Suffering a front-left suspension break, the German violently veered off the track at midday, in the long right-hand curve of the third corner, hitting the tire wall. Unfortunately for Leclerc, the car was only repaired about fifteen minutes before the end of the day, and he couldn’t complete a lap.
🎙VETTEL
“Dieu merci, l’impact n’a pas été trop important. Notre priorité absolue est de comprendre la cause. Nous sommes sur le point de comprendre. Quelque chose s’est produit à l’avant-gauche. Après ça, je n’avais plus aucune chance de tourner.”
📸 @MSI_Images#F1Testing 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/n5exSRGuBA
— Secteur F1 🏎🇫🇷 (@Secteur_F1) February 27, 2019
On the other hand, McLaren fared well as it secured the absolute record for winter testing with a lap of 1:17.144 achieved by Carlos Sainz using the C4 tire range. However, this strong performance is tempered by a hydraulic leak that indicates rather unstable reliability at McLaren.
Please note that in addition to being the fastest, Sainz is also the driver who completed the most laps this Wednesday, 130, tied with Robert Kubica.
The other notable performance is that of the Honda engine, which completed 229 laps by combining the track time of Verstappen’s Red Bull and Kvyat’s Toro Rosso. We can therefore say that the Japanese engine manufacturer has made a significant leap forward in terms of reliability. In terms of performance, the Japanese engine is not lacking either. Indeed, Verstappen occupies 6th place in the standings with a time of 1’18.395, and Kvyat is only three-tenths behind.
Another solid day of running in the bag ✔️ @kvyatofficial ends the session with 101 laps and a best time of 1:18.682 ⏱️ pic.twitter.com/Q3pXevGJul— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) February 27, 2019
Meanwhile, the Haas team also had a good day. At the wheel of the VF19, Romain Grosjean ran 120 laps, with a reference time of 1.18.330, placing him 5th just behind Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo.
To highlight as well is the form of Racing Point, with Sergio Perez completing the Montmelo circuit in 1.17.842. The Mexican secured the second position this Wednesday.
Mercedes continues to hide its game. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton occupy the 8th and 9th places, respectively. Robert Kubica, also powered by the German engine block, separates the two Renaults.
There are only two days left for the teams to prepare for the 2019 season, which will start on March 17 in Melbourne.
