Lap times 2nd day of F1 testing Catalunya

Weather: Cold. Ambient 3°C - 7°C Track 4°C - 10°C.

The second day of testing on the Catalunya circuit was full of action and was a very cold day with temperatures just above 0 degrees.

Sebastian Vettel drove the fastest lap today in the Ferrari SF71H and almost drove 100 laps on the Spanish circuit.

Fastest F1 testing lap times Tuesday Catalunya

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel testing the SF71H on Circuit de Catalunya

Snow just a few kilometres from the Costa Brava on the Spanish Mediterranean is not what you expect. The last time this happened at an F1 test at the Catalunya Circuit was 19 years ago, but the icy blast of the past few days brought in a few snowflakes this afternoon.

Nevertheless, the SF17H, with Sebastian Vettel having his first day at the wheel, reeled off 98 laps, the fastest of which was a 1’19”673, set on Soft tyres. Scuderia Ferrari wasn’t in action for all nine hours – one more than usual as even the lunch break was cancelled – but come the end of the day the programme ran to plan.

And that’s the point made by the driver: “The important thing today wasn’t the lap time, but the fact that, in these conditions, we managed to cover almost a hundred laps without encountering any reliability problems. That’s what we are concentrating on at the moment, with the search for performance coming later. From an operational point of view, everything went smoothly and I’d say the car is working.

But today’s conditions are not the ones in which you’d normally run an F1 car: today it even snowed and with air temperature around 3 to 4 degrees and the track at 8 to 9, everyone struggled to get the tyres up to temperature. The weather was the limiting factor today: the fact it’s been much colder than last year and also that the track has been completely resurfaced, means it’s impossible to make any comparisons. For now, we are concentrating on ourselves, without looking at what the others are doing.”

During the day, the SF71 used the Medium and Soft tyres and also did a couple of laps on the Intermediates. Tomorrow, it’s again Kimi Raikkonen’s turn, for his last day of this session.

Mercedes

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Valtteri Bottas, Test, Barcelona

Following on from Monday's incredibly cold temperatures and drizzly rain, the conditions didn't improve much for Tuesday's running - in fact, it even snowed at one point, towards the end of the day.

The Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ was back out on track for day two of 2018 Formula One pre-season running, with Valtteri the team's sole driver in the car as he rattled through the team's programme.

Initially, the plan was to split running between Valtteri and team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the second day of the test, but in order to maximise mileage it was decided to keep Valtteri in the car.

There was no lunch break at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Tuesday, allowing teams to claw back some of the track time lost due to the chilly weather conditions.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri's day was dominated by the weather - F1 tyres aren't designed to be run in such cold conditions, which made it tricky for all teams to get the most out of the session.

Nevertheless, the Finn ploughed on and completed 94 laps, putting in a best time of 1:19.976 on the Medium tyre in the slightly warmer afternoon running - which put him second quickest.

"It was very cold on track today; I don't think I've ever driven in such cold conditions before in Formula One," he said. "Testing is always difficult in these temperatures, the tyres are just not made for these conditions.

"But we made the most out of the day. In the morning, we focused on aero work with different aero rakes on the car, running various tests. In the afternoon, I was doing long runs and we also worked on the set-up.

"It was quite tricky in these temperatures, but we managed to get some work done and found some answers to our testing items.

"The weather is obviously unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do about it and it's the same conditions for everyone. In these conditions, I would say today was a good day. I hope that the weather is going to get better soon and I'm looking forward to tomorrow and Thursday."

Lewis Hamilton:
Lewis was originally scheduled to run on Tuesday but when it comes to pre-season testing, plans can always change.

With the tricky conditions and the time it takes to swap drivers, the decision was made for Valtteri to stay in the W09 for the afternoon too, with Lewis returning to the cockpit on Wednesday.

"With the weather conditions being up and down and the loss of track time we had yesterday, it made sense to keep Valtteri in the car this afternoon," Lewis explained.

"Having run in the morning, he was comfortable in the car already and we would have lost about an hour of running time with the driver switch.

"With no real understanding of whether good weather was coming or not, I took the decision to sacrifice that time in order for the team to gain better understanding of the car by going through the run plan."

McLaren

Stoffel Vandoorne testing the McLaren MCL33

An interrupted session for McLaren at the second day of pre-season testing as Stoffel Vandoorne got behind the wheel of the MCL33 for the first time. Conditions all day have been much colder than expected, with track temperatures well below the ideal operating window for both the car and tyres.

Given the weather, the team opted to run a number of installation laps in the morning in order to gather important correlation data and perform systems checks – necessary test items that can still be completed in adverse conditions.

Around lunchtime, the team detected high temperatures under the bodywork, caused by a broken exhaust clip leading to hot air being blown back into the car and onto the wiring loom, which includes the brake line. The team opted to strip down the car to perform further investigations as a precaution.

Once happy with the investigation and subsequent repair, the car was again readied to return to the track, but the team opted not to run just before the flag dropped due to the worsening weather conditions.

Stoffel completed 37 laps and clocked the third-quickest time of the day.

STOFFEL VANDOORNE, McLaren Driver
“It was very nice to get back in the car after the winter break. It felt like I hadn’t left the cockpit so that was positive. What mainly held us back this morning were the weather conditions – it was a very cold and damp circuit which meant it took a while to get the running started for everyone.

“We took the opportunity to do some rake work and gather some aero data, and after that the track started to be in a reasonable condition, so we could do a few proper runs and try to understand a bit more about the car.

“The first impressions were very positive. I felt comfortable, there were no surprises and we got some good learning done. Unfortunately, we had a small issue with the exhaust clip at lunchtime, which detached the exhaust and blew a lot of hot air onto some of the wiring looms – one of which is the brake. The team did some precautionary checks which obviously meant that things took a bit longer than expected. All in all, it wasn’t a big problem and it’s been a positive day with a lot of things learned about the car.

“The snowy conditions are not very representative of what we will get during the season, so it’s very difficult to read into performance at this stage.”

ERIC BOULLIER, Racing Director
“Today was one of those days where circumstances beyond our control affected our running. Stoffel had a very positive morning, quickly getting acquainted with the MCL33, before performing vital checks and collecting essential data that can be sent back to the factory for analysis.

“Due to the weather conditions Stoffel wasn’t able to fully stretch the legs of our new package for any length of time, but we adapted our run plan to our advantage and were still able to gather a lot of valuable data that will inform the rest of our test programme.

“It’s a shame that a minor issue such as a broken exhaust clip meant that we spent much of the afternoon in the garage doing in-depth checks on the car, but it was the only option we were prepared to take given the proximity to the braking system. We decided that running the car again at the end of the session was not worth the risk given the impending snow, so we are busily crunching the numbers and hope for a better day tomorrow.

“As for tomorrow’s running, the forecast looks much the same as today with more snow predicted. We’ll make what we can of the situation and adapt our run plan accordingly to glean the data we need.”

Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen testing the Red Bull RB14 on circuit de Catalunya

Max got his first taste of the RB14 as he took over from Daniel on day two of the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The young Dutch driver was made to wait for the experience, however, as after a very brief outing early in the freezing cold morning, Max was back in the garage and the team were investigating a suspected fuel leak.

The source of the issue took some time to locate and Max remained in the garage until the early afternoon. However, with temperatures hovering just above zero and with other teams less than keen to test the conditions, Max reckoned he had lost out on little.

"In the end I don't think we lost too much ground in the morning as the track seemed in pretty poor condition early on," he said. "It wasn't ideal but we had to check through everything and it took a while."

Max eventually hit the track in earnest in the early afternoon and over the next few hours racked up a solid total of 67 laps, the best of which earned him fourth place on the timesheet. That lap of 1:20.326 saw him finish 0.653s behind fastest man Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, second-placed Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and third-placed Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren.

Renault

Carlos Sainz Jr testing the Renault RS18.

Renault Sport Formula One Team completed the second day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a revised run plan seeing Carlos Sainz in the Renault R.S.18 for both morning and afternoon.

Carlos completed 65 laps with a best time of 1min 21.212secs, the fifth fastest time of the day. Once again, running was affected by cold weather, with yesterday’s rain giving way to the occasional appearance of snowflakes at the 4.7km track.

Carlos Sainz:
“It was even colder than yesterday and I’m not sure how we managed to complete as many laps as we did! In the end we completed 65, which was good training for my neck and body even if the conditions weren’t too useful for developing the car. It’s difficult to give too many impressions of the R.S.18 as today was not representative of the weather we should face at a Grand Prix. Next week better conditions are forecast so then we can work on evaluating performance.”

Alan Permane, Sporting Director:
“It’s been particularly cold today which affected our run plan. As Nico achieved a good tally of laps yesterday morning, we opted to run Carlos all day today. The cold weather means running is less valuable in terms of working on car set-up as it’s difficult to get the tyres to get into and stay in their operating range, but nevertheless we were able to complete a number of other aspects of our programme.”

Toro Rosso

Pierre Gasly testing the Toro Rosso STR13 on circuit de Catalunya

Second day of F1 Testing, here in Spain. Very cold conditions but another positive day for the team.

Pierre Gasly (Car 10):
"Conditions were really tricky today so we didn't run as much as we could have done. This afternoon was the first time I drove a Formula 1 car in "snow conditions", so it was quite epic! In terms of work, we got some good laps and more understanding about the car and the engine. We had some interesting tests, so overall I'm happy about today. The first feeling is positive, I felt comfortable with the car - It's consistent from one corner to another, between the low speed, medium speed and high speed. I still have a lot of work to do and I think we have some good directions overall. We didn't do any qualifying runs or pushing laps, as our aim was more completing many laps and this is what we achieved, even if we changed the run plan because of the weather. This morning we started really late but I think overall we maximised the time we had on track and we did the best we could do with the conditions."

Williams

Sergey Sirotkin, Williams FW41 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer:
A very difficult day weather-wise, but it is the same for everybody and we tried to make the best of it. The early part of the day was extremely cold with a wet track, and we used this time with Sergey driving to carry out a range of aerodynamic surveys on each of the full wet, intermediate and dry tyres. It was only at about 12:30 that conditions allowed performance running on dry tyres, and Sergey made the best of his limited time with three runs on the soft compound; the final run being cut short by a red flag. Robert took over for the afternoon with improving conditions and, managed two performance runs before the temperatures dropped and again became critical for switching on the tyres. We reverted again to data gathering during the light snowfall! With such instability in tyre temperatures this was not a day in which we can learn anything performance-wise, but we gathered good characteristic data and achieved another 100 laps of reliable running of the new car.

Sergey Sirotkin:
The weather this morning was very similar to yesterday, but it got better around midday. When we started it was very cold, too cold to try and make any use of the runs, so we just spent our time doing the aero checks among other things, which are less dependent on the weather conditions. Around midday, the temperature came back to us and we switched to try to do some proper running, but it was still not ideal. We did 52 laps overall, which is ok, we got a first impression of the car and the first things to pay attention to. Again, it wasn’t ideal but it wasn’t ideal for anyone. We got the maximum we could so we should be happy with how we reacted to the situation.

Robert Kubica:
I think we have achieved the maximum we could do due to the weather and general track temperatures. I got my first feeling for the car, and saw what we were able to do in difficult conditions. It is not easy to jump into a new car with such difficult weather conditions and have the confidence to push, but I think we did some important work, although it was short. However, it gave us, and especially myself, an idea of how to work better for the future to address some areas where we can improve the car. The car has some very powerful areas, but, in the meantime, we need to work on some issues which I am sure we will get on top of. If we do that then the driveability, and also the confidence of the driver will be higher.

The FW41 returns to the track tomorrow with Lance driving in the morning session, before handing over to Robert in the afternoon.

Force India

Nikita Mazepin (RUS) Sahara Force India F1 VJM11 Development Driver.
Formula One Testing, Day 1, Monday 26th February 2018. Barcelona, Spain.

Esteban Ocon:
“It was very cold today so we just had to try and make the best of the conditions. There was even snow at the end of the day, which is not what you expect when testing in Barcelona. Despite the cold weather, I was able to get a good feeling for the car. It’s still early days – only day two of testing – and there is a long way to go, but we are making progress and learning lots of things. It was my first full day with the halo and I got used to it very quickly. By the end of the day you don’t think about it when you’re driving and that surprised me.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Engineer:
“The day got off to a slow start due to the track conditions, but when we finally got going, the car ran reliably and we made good progress through the run schedule. We adjusted our programme to do more aero rake runs early in the day, when the track was not very representative, and then picked up where we left off yesterday to continue our work of understanding the aerodynamic characteristics of the new car. We were able to perform some long runs as well, but unfortunately the weather turned for the worse again in the middle of the afternoon, which limited the time we could spend on track.”

Sauber

Sauber testing day 1 2018

The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team had another positive day of testing ahead of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 Championship. Charles Leclerc spent his first day of winter testing in the cockpit of the new C37. Throughout the day, he focused on aerodynamic and mechanical tests, and completed a total of 81 laps.

Charles Leclerc (car number 16):
“First of all, it is great to be back racing after a long winter break. Overall, it was a very positive first day of testing for me. Although the weather conditions were not ideal, with low temperatures and even some snow in the afternoon, I was able to develop a better sense of what the car behaves like on track. We completed a good number of laps, completing aerodynamic and mechanical tests throughout the day. The C37 has potential, and I look forward to driving again on my second day of test 1.”

Jörg Zander, Technical Director:
“It was another positive day of testing – despite the low temperatures and tricky weather conditions. Building on the data we collected yesterday, we continued our programme by doing set-up work and taking aerodynamic measurements. In the morning, we were not able to run as many laps as expected due to the weather. In the afternoon, we focused on long runs while testing different tyre compounds. It was important for Charles to get used to the new car as well as to the team procedures. Overall, a productive day.”

Haas

Kevin Magnussen testing the Haas VF-18

Kevin Magnussen took over the Haas VF-18 during the second day of preseason testing Tuesday at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya after teammate Romain Grosjean made 55 laps around the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track on Monday.

Grosjean’s first drive of Haas F1 Team’s 2018 challenger took place in cool, overcast conditions that eventually turned to rain and cut his session short. Magnussen’s drive took place in even colder temperatures, with the mercury staying well below 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), which kept the track damp and slick. This made for limited running, with Magnussen totaling just 36 laps to log 167.580 kilometers (104.129 miles).

Magnussen was the first driver to hit the track when it opened at 9 a.m. local time, but he did so carefully, making his reconnaissance lap on the Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tire. Magnussen returned to the track approximately three hours later shod on Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires, but the track remained slippery, as evidenced by a short trip through the gravel on his out lap.

It wasn’t until nearly 2 p.m. that Magnussen was back on track, again with Yellow softs bolted onto the VF-18. He was able to complete two runs of 12 laps and 14 laps, respectively, before a final drive on Green intermediates as snowflakes began swirling from the sky. Magnussen’s best lap was a 1:22.727, earned on his 30th lap during his last full stint on softs.

Kevin Magnussen:
“It was a difficult day for us. We had lots of time in the garage. I would’ve loved to have had more laps. I got an early look at the balance and the feel of the car. We’re taking everything with a pinch of salt because it is very close to zero degrees and the tires are not performing as they will be when the track and ambient temperatures are more normal. So, we’re not really taking anything out of this, but it’s good that we’re getting all those little problems out of the way early. We’re not really missing much in terms of performance testing.”

Guenther Steiner / Team Principal:
“A difficult day for us today. We didn’t do a lot of running. We had a few smaller issues with big consequences, which meant we couldn’t get the running in that we had wanted to today. So, we didn’t learn a lot. The weather didn’t help, as well, because when we were ready the weather wasn’t there. We didn’t take advantage of the day. We just have to keep on working hard and making it up next week, as it doesn’t look like the weather’s going to get any better the rest of this week. We’ve got a few issues to work on, not that we are concerned or worried. That’s why we test. We’ll keep working.”

Grosjean returns to the Haas VF-18 on Wednesday with Magnussen completing the first week of testing on Thursday. After a four-day break, teams return to Barcelona for the second and final round of preseason testing March 6-9. Magnussen drives March 6 and March 8. Grosjean drives March 7 and March 9.

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