Barcelona Winter Testing II – Day 3: Record for Leclerc, Gasly Destroys His Red Bull
This sixth day of winter testing, the third of this second week, was marked by Charles Leclerc's record time at the wheel of his Ferrari and by Pierre Gasly's big crash, which destroyed the Red Bull RB15 in the Techpro barriers at the Barcelona circuit.
Once again this winter, Ferrari isn’t hiding its ambitions and takes the top spot on the timesheet for this new day.
Charles Leclerc even beat the best time of these two weeks by going under the symbolic mark of 1 minute and 17 seconds with a lap time of 1.16.231 in the morning.
This best time was even, for a moment, the achievement of the astonishing Alexander Albon at the wheel of a Toro Rosso, decidedly very fast at the start of the year. The young Thai driver nevertheless ranks in an excellent second position with a time of 1:16.882. He is therefore the only one along with the Ferrari driver to post a time in the 1 minute 16 seconds range. The eight best times of the day were set with the C5 tires, the softest compound offered by Pirelli.
However, this day was also marked by numerous breakdowns that handicapped the programs of some teams. First among them was Haas, which experienced an issue with Romain Grosjean’s car, keeping the Frenchman in the garage for much of the afternoon. Nevertheless, the VF-19 was able to hit the track in the evening to complete almost ten laps, with his teammate, Kevin Magnussen, running without problems this morning.
Still no running from @RGrosjean this afternoon. An exhaust issue on the #VF19 was discovered during the lunch break. Work on-going in the garage. #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/E6GOWGLSt9
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) 28 février 2019
Charles Leclerc also experienced a mechanical problem, the origin of which has yet to be determined for Ferrari. However, the team does not seem genuinely worried despite Sebastian Vettel’s violent crash yesterday due to an identified rim issue.
But the biggest accident is attributed to Pierre Gasly, who literally destroyed his Red Bull against the Techpro after a violent off-track incident in turn 9. The Frenchman could not continue, and the participation of the RB15 for tomorrow is also compromised.
This is the second time since the start of winter testing in Barcelona that Pierre Gasly has gone off the track with his Red Bull, thus compromising his team’s work.
The Crash of @PierreGASLY onboard!#F1Testing #F1 #Testing #Barcelona #f1sky #SkyF1 #Formula1 #Formel1 #F12019 #CRASH #Gasly #Red Bull #Red BullRacing #RB15 pic.twitter.com/rRDHrrr0M4
— Nico Herrmann (@MotorsportNico) 28 février 2019
Another red flag interrupted the day after the on-track breakdown of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point, which nevertheless completed a whopping 103 laps to secure the 7th fastest time. The pink cars have remained very discreet since last week, much like the Mercedes cars that don’t seem particularly concerned with the stopwatch. Valtteri Bottas even has the luxury of bringing up the rear today!
Finally, note the good performance of the McLarens since last week, with Lando Norris once again placing in the Top 3, and the reliability of the Williams with George Russell, who was the most diligent driver of the day, covering a total of 140 laps.
Mega miles on the board once again in Barcelona 🚀
Add two sub-1:17 laps into the mix – it’s a productive day all round 👏#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/QCUFRh2H3m
— Formula 1 (@F1) 28 février 2019
