The final Pre-season test ended today at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona with Sebastian Vettel topping the time sheets in his Ferrari.
The final day of testing before the season begins in Australia saw Vettel set the fastest time of the day, a 1.22.852 on the supersoft tyres. The result is the Ferrari’s have finished top five of the eight days of testing. Prompting many to speculate that they may be able to take some kind of fight to Mercedes for the championship this year. The main issue is Mercedes have only shown flashes of pace, preferring to work on long runs and reliability. Though the team suffered their first break down of winter testing today, with Lewis Hamilton’s morning session coming to an abrupt end thanks to a transmission problem. Mercedes focused once again on long paced runs, with Hamilton managing 69 laps before the car broke, and Nico Rosberg managing 70 laps. This brings the total number of laps for the Mercedes to 619 laps in four days, or just over 9 full length Spanish Grand Prixs.
Toro Rosso showed they too had pace in their car, as Carlos Sainz managed to achieve the second fastest time in testing today, a 1:23.134 on the ultrasoft tyres. Toro Rosso managed to run the second greatest number of miles across testing, behind the Mercedes team. Serval teams opted to take part in qualifying simulations like Ferrari and Toro Rosso. The Williams of Felipe Massa was third fastest on a 1:23.644 set on the supersoft tyres. While it was another positive day for Force India, with Sergio Perez going fourth fastest. Setting a 1:23.721 on the supersoft tyres.
Meanwhile it was a much better day for new team Haas. The team have been plagued with technical gremlins this week, which saw the only complete 1 lap on the second day of testing. Today however was more positive, as both Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean got a chance to go out in the car. Between them they completed 91 laps.
It is now less than two weeks before the cars will be seen again, when they take to the track in the first free practice session in Australia.
Day Three, Second Pre-season test fastest time+laps
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Supersoft Tyre, 1:22.852, 142 laps
2. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, Ultrasoft Tyre, 1:23.134, 133 laps
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, Supersoft Tyre, 1:23.644, 129 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, Supersoft Tyre, 1:23.721, 60 laps
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Medium Tyre, 1:24.133, 69 laps
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Soft Tyre, 1:24.427, 123 laps
7. Jenson Button, McLaren, Ultrasoft Tyre, 1:24.714, 121 laps
8. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Supersoft Tyre, 1:24.859, 90 laps
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, Soft Tyre, 1:25.031, 132 laps
10. Romain Grosjean, Haas, Soft Tyre, 1:25.255, 66 laps
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, Soft Tyre, 1:25.422, 25 laps
12. Rio Haryanto, Manor, Ultrasoft Tyre, 1:25.899, 58 laps
13. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Medium Tyre, 1:26.140, 70 laps
Feature Image Credit: Scudaria Ferrari press release.
