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Barcelona F1 test round-up: Vettel leads dominant Ferrari 1-2

Sebastian Vettel broke the unofficial Barcelona lap record as Ferrari dominated the times in 2018 Formula 1 pre-season testing.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H

Sutton Images

Jo Bauer, FIA Technical Delegate watches Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H in pit lane
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF71H
Fernando Alonso, McLaren MCL33
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W09
Carlos Sainz Jr., Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18
Charles Leclerc, Alfa Romeo Sauber C37

A weather-disrupted opening test, topped by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, piled more work on the 10 F1 teams for the final four days before the season opener in Australia at the end of this month.

Vettel fired a statement of intent on Thursday with a 1m17.182s that shattered the previous fastest lap of the Spanish Grand Prix circuit by 1.2 seconds.

His teammate Kimi Raikkonen added further gloss to Ferrari’s week by lapping within a tenth to top the final day of testing on Friday.

Vettel was also the test’s busiest driver, completing 425 laps, thanks to Raikkonen needing to forfeit his first morning of the final week thanks to illness.

The German was still minded to urge caution though, especially as the four-time double champion team Mercedes focused on long runs and ended up 1.3s off the pace.

“I think it's the wrong conclusion to look at the time sheet,” said Vettel after Thursday. “There's more to it than a good lap.”

The Ferraris were well clear of the rest of the pack, surprisingly headed by Fernando Alonso and McLaren.

Alonso stopped twice, in the same place, on Wednesday and Friday as reliability problems plagued the start of the Woking team’s first season after ditching Honda for Renault power.

McLaren had to change the engine after each stoppage but Alonso emerged late on Friday to give the team a reprieve in the closing minutes of the test with the third-best time, 0.6 seconds behind Vettel’s best.

It meant McLaren ended up as the fastest Renault-powered team, with Alonso heading Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and Carlos Sainz Jr’s works entry as all three outfits were covered by three tenths of a second on the timesheets.

Kevin Magnussen was fifth-fastest and gave Haas a pre-season boost as the only driver in the overall top six to do his best lap on supersoft tyres, as everyone else used the new hypersofts.

Toro Rosso’s new relationship with McLaren’s exiled partner Honda continued its encouraging start, the team completing more laps than anyone bar Mercedes and Ferrari over the two weeks.

It is threatening pace as well as reliability, too, with Pierre Gasly firing in a quick lap near the end to demote reigning champion Lewis Hamilton to eighth in the times.

Mercedes was still bullish at the end of testing, though, after yet again completing the most mileage. Its final tally of 1040 laps made it the only team to hit quadruple figures across the two weeks, with Ferrari (929) completing more than 100 laps fewer.

Williams and Force India helped keep Mercedes atop the pile on the engine manufacturers’ count too, leading Ferrari 2,570 to 2,409.

Renault’s tally was limited by a combination McLaren’s reliability woes, the occasional setback for Red Bull and a gearbox-induced miserable final day for the works team, but the French manufacturer still logged more than 2,000 laps.

Honda’s improved showing with Toro Rosso is reflected by a final tally of 822 laps, perfectly in line with the others given its rivals are supplying three teams.

Week 2 results

Pos. Driver  Team 6 Mar 7 Mar  8 Mar  9 Mar 
1 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari 1'20.396
171
1'19.541
66
1'17.182
188
 
2 Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari   1'20.242
49
  1'17.221
157
3 Fernando Alonso
McLaren   1'19.856
57
  1'17.784
93
4 Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull

  1'18.047
165
  1'18.327
92
5 Carlos Sainz
Renault 1'21.455
91
1'20.042
88
1'18.725
69
1'18.092
45
6 Kevin Magnussen
Haas 1'21.298
95
  1'18.360
153
 
7 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1'20.973
54
  1'18.363
169
 
8 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 1'20.808
91
1'18.400
90
1'19.296
84
1'19.464
97
9 Romain Grosjean
Haas   1'20.237
78
  1'18.412
181
10 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 1'20.596
86
1'18.560
85
1'19.532
97
1'18.825
104
11 Nico Hulkenberg
Renault 1'21.432
48
1'20.758
102
1'18.675
79
 
12 Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren 1'21.946
38
  1'18.855
151
 
13 Brendon Hartley
Toro Rosso   1'19.823
119
  1'18.949
156
14 Esteban Ocon Force India   1'20.805
130
  1'18.967
163
15 Charles Leclerc
Sauber   1'20.919
160
  1'19.118
75
16 Sergey Sirotkin
Williams 1'21.588
42
1'22.350
80
  1'19.189
105
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1'21.706
120
  1'19.244
148
 
18 Robert Kubica Williams     1'19.629
73
 
19 Sergio Perez
Force India 1'21.643
93
  1'19.634
159
 
20 Max Verstappen
Red Bull 1'20.649
130
  1'19.842
187
 
21 Lance Stroll
Williams 1'22.937
86
1'20.349
63
1'20.262
67
1'19.954
27

Week 2 mileage rankings

Pos. Driver Laps km
1 Sebastian Vettel 425 1978
2 Valtteri Bottas 372 1731
3 Lewis Hamilton 362 1685
4 Max Verstappen 317 1475
5 Carlos Sainz 293 1363
6 Esteban Ocon 293 1363
7 Brendon Hartley 275 1280
8 Marcus Ericsson 268 1247
9 Romain Grosjean 259 1205
10 Daniel Ricciardo 257 1196
11 Sergio Perez 252 1173
12 Kevin Magnussen 248 1154
13 Lance Stroll 243 1131
14 Charles Leclerc 235 1093
15 Nico Hulkenberg 229 1065
16 Sergey Sirotkin 227 1056
17 Pierre Gasly 223 1038
18 Kimi Raikkonen 206 958
19 Stoffel Vandoorne 189 879
20 Fernando Alonso 150 698
21 Robert Kubica 73 339
Pos. Team Laps km
1 Mercedes 734 3416
2 Ferrari 631 2937
3 Red Bull 574 2671
4 Force India 545 2536
5 Williams 543 2527
6 Renault 522 2429
7 Haas 507 2360
8 Sauber 503 2341
9 Toro Rosso 498 2318
10 McLaren 339 1578
Pos. Engine Laps km
1 Mercedes 1822 8481
2 Ferrari 1641 7638
3 Renault 1435 6678
4 Honda 498 2318

 

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