Lewis Hamilton concludes F1 testing in the lead for Ferrari, while McLaren demonstrates improvement in Barcelona.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ensured that Ferrari concluded testing on a positive note during the private event in Barcelona on Friday.
ESPN sources have reported that Hamilton clocked a time of 1:16.348 late on Friday, slightly faster than George Russell’s 1:16.445 achieved on Thursday, marking the end of F1’s five-day closed testing, with two additional sessions scheduled next month in Bahrain.
As is typical early in testing, leading times can be deceptive, and the nature of F1’s closed testing means that crucial information, such as the types of tyres used and the timing of laps, can be challenging to obtain.
More encouraging for Ferrari, a team that faced reliability issues in 2005, is that it had another productive day in terms of mileage, with Hamilton and Charles Leclerc combining for 141 laps throughout the day.
Additionally, Ferrari’s engine customer Haas rebounded from a lackluster second day of testing earlier in the week, achieving an impressive 195 laps, with Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon sharing driving duties around lunchtime. This total was the highest recorded by any team this week and significantly exceeded three race distances of the Spanish Grand Prix held at the Barcelona circuit.
Reigning world champions McLaren also had a strong day in terms of mileage, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri together completing 163 laps, while also recording a time in the 1:16s that was 0.25 seconds slower than Hamilton’s — the usual caveats apply.
Aston Martin managed only four laps on Thursday due to a delayed start to their preseason but improved on Friday, with Fernando Alonso completing a total of 61 laps.
However, sources informed ESPN that Aston Martin did not appear to be pursuing lap times, as indicated by a blue flashing light on the back of its car, signaling to rival teams that it was not operating at full power while running in lower engine modes. Aston Martin’s significant investment has been directed towards this regulatory change, which includes a new engine partnership with Honda.
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Mercedes, having completed their allotted three days of testing on Thursday, did not participate on Friday, but they emerged from the test as the consensus early preseason favorite due to their ability to quickly find their rhythm and the number of laps completed, while appearing to be comfortably quick before the real pursuit of one-lap performance begins during February’s two Bahrain tests.
Mercedes customer team Alpine added another 121 laps on Friday through Pierre Gasly, further increasing their mileage total.
That said, several teams will head to the Middle East in a strong position. The anticipated wave of reliability issues that many feared would overshadow this new set of aerodynamic and engine regulations — which prompted F1’s decision to conduct a closed test in the first place — did not materialize.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen returned to the Red Bull car, which had missed Wednesday and Thursday after teammate Isack Hadjar crashed on Tuesday afternoon, and completed 118 laps.
Red Bull’s strong start to testing was acknowledged by Russell earlier in the week — the former world champions have embarked on a new engine project in collaboration with Ford, but there have not been any significant reliability concerns thus far. Verstappen’s fastest time was 1.2 seconds slower than Hamilton’s, but the true performance evaluations will take place in Bahrain.
Audi experienced their best day of the week, achieving 148 laps between Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, while Valtteri Bottas completed 54 laps for Cadillac.
F1 will proceed with two three-day tests in Bahrain next month ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.
Source: espn.com
