In-season F1 Test Barcelona Day 1 Recap
After an intense Grand Prix weekend all teams stayed at the Catalunya circuit for the in-season testing period of 2 days.
During testing the teams try to figure out more about the performance of their race cars. Lap times don't mean a lot. For sure quick lap times are great, but are not the main goal for testing.
Today Max Verstappen came out on top after lunchtime with the quickest lap time of the day using the super soft Pirelli tyres on the RB14. Verstappen drove a staggering 148 laps today. That's more than to times the Spanish Grand Prix amount of 66 laps.
Lewis Hamilton even drove 3 laps more in the Mercedes W09, but clearly wasn't focussing on getting the quickest lap time today.
In the morning Haas driver Romain Grosjean didn't do any burnouts this time in turn 3 and clocked the fastest lap time before lunch.
F2 driver Nicholas Latifi showed his talents and even drove a quicker lap time in the Force India VJM11 than current race drivers Sergop Perez and Esteban Ocon did during qualifying!
Antoinio Giovinazzi also did a solid job with 135 laps in the Sauber. He is also the only driver who drivers for 2 teams this testing period. Tomorrow he will take over the wheel from Sebastian Vettel's SF71H to maybe even drive 4 GP's in 2 days on Catalunya circuit.
Next to the car development programs there were also 2 cars doing a 2019 Pirelli tyre development program.
Lap times in-season testing day 1
| Pos | Driver | Team | Lap Time | 1st Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:17,528 | 148 | |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Renault | 1:17,562 | 0,034 | 119 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:17,659 | 0,131 | 136 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | Haas F1 Team | 1:18,449 | 0,921 | 129 |
| 5 | Nicholas Latifi | Force India | 1:18,530 | 1,002 | 107 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18,543 | 1,015 | 151 |
| 7 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:18,981 | 1,453 | 85 |
| 8 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Sauber | 1:19,693 | 2,165 | 135 |
| 9 | Oliver Rowland | Williams | 1:20,009 | 2,481 | 121 |
| 10* | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:20,997 | 3,469 | 76 |
| 11* | George Russel | Force India | 1:21,478 | 3,950 | 123 |
| 12 | Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso | 1:21,935 | 4,407 | 50 |
| 13 | Oliver Turvey | McLaren | 1:23,070 | 5,542 | 58 |
* Pirelli 2019 tyre development cars
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