Lap times first day of 2nd Catalunya F1 testing

Weather: sunny and dry; air 12° – 20°C, track 13° – 28°C

All 2018 F1 teams got back to the Catalunya circuit for the second week of testing and getting to understand their newly designed and build cars and tyres.

The sun was out today, so the temperature of the track was very different then last week. Ferrari, Red Bull and Sauber drove the most laps around the circuit. Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap and also drove a staggering 171 laps!

Beneath the lap times you can find all team comments about this first day of testing in the second week in Spain.

Fastest F1 testing lap times Tuesday Catalunya week 2

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF71H Catalunya Barcelona 2018

171 laps of the Catalunya Circuit totals 796 kilometres. That’s the distance Sebastian Vettel reeled off in the SF71H on this the first day of the second and final pre-season test session.
This time, the weather behaved itself with air temperature reaching 15 degrees and the track hitting 26. Only wind in the afternoon affected the session.

Scuderia Ferrari set to work on the dot of 9, the car doing some laps fitted with sensors to acquire data linked to the aerodynamics. After that came some relatively long runs, switching between the Soft and Medium compound tyres. It was on the latter that Seb set his fastest time in 1’20”396, on his 66th lap.

“It was a good day’s work,” commented the driver at the end of the session. “We managed to get through our programme, even if the conditions weren’t always ideal, because of the wind.”

Tomorrow, Wednesday, testing continues with Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel.

Mercedes

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1, Barcelona, Tests, Lewis Hamilton 2018

The cold, snowy and wet conditions of the opening pre-season test were (thankfully) replaced by sunshine and warmer temperatures as Formula One returned to action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

It was the busiest day of pre-season running so far for the new Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+, with the car clocking an impressive 177 laps on the opening day of the second pre-season test.

The challenging and tricky conditions of the first test cost F1 teams crucial time out on track and vital running on dry tyres, but they were eager to make up for lost ground on Tuesday.

In order to maximise the opportunities available, we split running between Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton on Tuesday and will continue to do so this week.

Following a weekend break, Valtteri was back behind the wheel of the W09 in the morning session, before team-mate Lewis took over for the afternoon.

Our lap tally was the biggest of any team on Tuesday, gathering more important data and info to take forward to the remaining test days and start of the new season.

Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri was eager to get back in the car on Tuesday and quickly rattled through a number of runs, before settling into the cockpit of the W09 for the morning session.

The Finn was the early pacesetter and ended the day's running second on the leaderboard, with a best time of 1:20.596 on the Soft tyre.

"The conditions today were much better than last week and we're all really happy about that," Valtteri said. "We got lots of valuable data today. This morning we focused on medium to long runs, trying different mechanical setups of the car.

"In these weather conditions we start to really work the tyres and we had a few issues to manage. So we had a few more challenges with the tyres than we had last week, but at least now they can warm up.

"We keep discovering more about the new car, learning how it reacts to different settings. We did more than 80 laps - so more than a race distance, a really good mileage. The car was very reliable, I really enjoyed being back in the car and I'm looking forward to continuing tomorrow."

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis jumped into the W09 just after the lunch break and was soon back out on track, racking up the laps.

He gradually chipped away at his best time and concluded the day in fourth place with a 1:20.808, also set on Soft tyres. In total, the four-time World Champion put in 91 laps.

"It's been a good day," Lewis explained. "We've got through everything we needed and put good mileage on the car - it's been productive.

"The biggest challenge we faced today was to get the tyres working properly on this new track surface. The medium tyre was difficult to get working; the soft tyre is better for warm-up, but suffered with degradation. But we are learning all the time.

"Overall it's been a good start to the second test although there is not a whole lot to say at this moment. We have not worked too much on fine-tuning the set-up as we're mostly still gathering information.

"In the next couple of days, once we get into the long-runs and some shorter qualifying-style runs, we will get a better idea of where the car is."

Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen testing the Red Bull RB14 on circuit de Catalunya

Max Verstappen began the final week of pre-season testing ahead of the 2018 by powering through 130 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Dutchman's total included the third fastest time, 0.253s behind day one pacesetter Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

A trouble-free morning saw Max get through 85 laps and he took up residency in third place on the timesheet with a lap run on Pirelli's medium tyres that left him just five hundredths of a second behind early leader Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes who set his quickest lap on soft tyres. Bottas was shunted to P2 just before lunchtime by Vettel, who like Max, used the medium tyre for his run.

The productive work of the morning allowed the team to take what Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin later referred to as a calculated risk with some shakedown work. That resulted in a stoppage at around 4.30pm, with Max pulling over at the first corner.

The RB14 was recovered to the pits where the battery was changed and shortly before the end of the session Max returned to the action to top out his lap count at 130. Mercedes topped the day one lap count with Bottas logging 86 laps in the morning before Lewis Hamilton worked through 91 laps in the afternoon to finish in fourth spot, 0.159s behind Max.

"It was a good day today. We did a lot of laps and that's really important, just to put mileage up on the car," said Max. "We had a small problem with the battery late in the day, so we had to change that and it takes a bit of time, but afterwards it was all good."

Commenting on the battery problem, Roquelin said: "We got through something like 85 laps in the morning and everything was running very smoothly. We got a long way through the test programme in the morning, so we were able to try out some things in the afternoon. We took the decision to do some shakedown tests and the result was a small electrical problem. We lost an hour as a result as we had to change the battery but it was a calculated risk and we learned something as a result. In all, I'm pretty happy with the amount we got through today."

The session took place in much improved conditions from last week but despite more representative running from the bulk of teams, Max was still cautious about what times reveal.

"Everyone of course wants to know where we think we are in relation to our opposition but honestly it's impossible to tell until we get to Australia, as you don't know what everyone else is doing," he said. "In terms of where this car is improved over last year, again it's very difficult to say as the new surface here changes how you drive and that, together with the new tyres, makes it difficult to pinpoint any particular area. Also, with the first week not being that successful in terms of temperatures and so on, it's still all to be discovered. I know it feels faster though!"

Toro Rosso

Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 2018

Pierre Gasly
“It was a really positive day overall from the performance side, we had a small issue this afternoon with the brake system which took longer than expected to fix, so we didn’t run as much as I would have liked - that’s part of testing though! So far everything has run perfectly, the car was pretty nice and we made some improvements compared to last week, so we are headed in the right direction.”

James Key (Technical Director)
“We had a reasonably productive morning where we were able to do some running in more normal conditions compared to last week. Pierre was happier with the car, we have made a lot of setup changes from what we learned last week. The engineers have done well to pull the analysis together in the short time between tests and find some promising directions. We also did a bit of work on the aerodynamics side taking further measurements first thing then moved onto more chassis setup tests and initial investigation into tyre performance in the warmer conditions.

Unfortunately, this afternoon we suffered a brake system issue on the chassis side which was difficult to trace and took a long time to address, needless to say it is important to ensure any issues with critical systems are dealt with correctly and as the afternoon went on time became increasingly short to get the car back on track.

Sadly we missed some running this afternoon due to that problem, however we will work overnight to make sure that we are ready and set for tomorrow. We apologise to the drivers and Honda for missing a good opportunity of running this afternoon and getting through more the long test item list we still have, however we need to put that right for the rest of the test and make good use of the remaining three days.”

Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director)
“The first day of the second pre-season test got underway in Barcelona under blue Spanish skies and much warmer temperatures than we experienced last week. It means that conditions on track were much closer to those we will experience at the races.

Last week we concentrated on data acquisition and systems checks and, from today, our programme is more race focused.

Unfortunately, we have lost some track time, stopping running in the afternoon because of an issue on the car. Identifying problems like this is what testing is for and we will make further preparation to make up the lost time over the remaining three days.”

Haas

Kevin Magnussen testing the Haas VF-18

Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen began the second and final week of preseason testing Tuesday at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya behind the wheel of the Haas VF-18. The 25-year-old from Roskilde, Denmark, was keen to build upon his 132-lap total from last week’s test session, which was disrupted by weather.

A blue sky greeted Magnussen and the rest of his Formula One counterparts as they took to the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track. Magnussen rolled out of the Haas F1 Team garage promptly at 9 a.m. local time for some reconnaissance laps before a 15-lap timed drive on the Pirelli P Zero White medium tire. A switch to the Yellow soft tire was subsequently made, whereupon Magnussen performed three stints totaling 31 laps. It was during the first of those runs on softs where Magnussen posted his quickest lap of the day – a 1:21.298 earned on his 23rd tour.

Track time in the afternoon was ceded to an ERS (Energy Recovery System) related component issue. Time spent in the garage meant a shortened run plan, with Magnussen returning to the track with just over an hour remaining in the session. Working on a race simulation, Magnussen started with a 16-lap run on a used set of Red supersofts before pitting for a new set of softs which he ran for 17 laps. A final, 12-lap stint on new supersofts took his lap total to 96 for the day.

Kevin Magnussen
“It was a good day. We got a lot of laps done. We started working properly with the car, and not just doing systems checks, installation laps and aero runs. I’d say it was our first proper day, also with the weather being a bit warmer and representative of what we’re probably going to have in the season. It’s still not quite there, but it’s getting closer. I’m happy and positive after the day.”

Guenther Steiner (Team Principal)
“A productive day today. We had a few small problems, but they are normal in testing, so I would call them minor ones and we got them sorted. We almost did 100 laps, which if we keep on going like this, we’ll be fine.”

Renault

Nico Hulkenberg Renault F1 Team RS18.
Barcelona, Spain.

Renault Sport Formula One Team completed the first day of the second week of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with both Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz taking turns behind the wheel of the Renault R.S.18.

Nico put in 49 laps in the morning, undertaking the first running with the team’s second chassis. Carlos completed 91 laps in the afternoon, including a race simulation. Even though ultimate lap times were not the target today, both drivers were very closely matched on pace, with Nico’s 1min 21.432secs just 0.023secs faster than Carlos.

Nico Hülkenberg
“There’s not much to say about my running in the morning. We did complete 49 laps, but we did have a few niggles with this chassis on its first outing; no big dramas and at least they were sorted quite quickly. I’m hoping for a decent run tomorrow afternoon.”

Carlos Sainz
“We completed a lot of laps in the afternoon and made good progress in understanding the car despite the wind, which was very tricky at times. However, it’s still very early days regarding set up as today was the first proper running compared to last week. Personally, I felt good in the car and it was great to get some decent laps under my belt. I’m looking forward to working with the crew on some different areas with the car tomorrow morning, where I’m confident we can make further improvement.”

Bob Bell (Chief Technical Officer)
“We had a scrappy morning and had to pull the car into the garage on a couple of occasions to check some things, so we didn’t get the mileage we had hoped for this morning with Nico. We recovered well this afternoon and got a race distance in with Carlos. It was interrupted by a couple of red flags but we completed the distance and can be pleased with that. Overall a productive day.”

Force India

Sergio Pérez - Force India F1 VJM11.
Formula One Testing, Day 1, Tuesday 6th March 2018. Barcelona, Spain.

Sergio Pérez
“It’s been a good day of running. We tried several different tyre compounds and understood a lot more about our new car. I only have one more day in the car before Melbourne but today gave me a lot more confidence about where we are now, with both the car and the set-up.

We still have a lot of work before we are where we want to be, but hopefully we’ll be in a good shape by the time we arrive in Melbourne. It’s difficult to say how we compare to the other teams because we are all on different programmes and fuel loads, but I am excited about this year; it’s going to be very interesting. Pirelli have been quite aggressive with the compounds and that should give a lot more strategic options, which should hopefully make for some exciting racing.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Engineer
“We had a very busy programme today and the key objective was largely catching up on what we couldn’t achieve last week because of the weather. It was good to have a dry day and to run reliably.

Our main focus was on gathering critical aero data and we also started working on some set-up items ahead of the first race of the season. We are doing our own programme and just focusing on what we need. We are satisfied because it’s been a productive day, but there’s still a lot to do in the rest of the week.”

Sauber

Sauber Marcus Ericsson 2018.

The Circuit de Catalunya welcomed the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team back with rays of sunshine for the first day of Test 2. Catching up on the track time that was lost due to the tricky weather conditions during the first week of testing in Barcelona, Marcus Ericsson completed a total of 120 laps in the cockpit of the C37. The team’s main focus today lay in aerodynamic and mechanical testing, as well as tyre work.

Marcus Ericsson
“Overall, it was a positive day for us. I completed a good number of laps, and the weather conditions were more representative in comparison to last week. We are continuing to understand the car and can see its potential. We have a lot of work ahead of us and are moving in the right direction. I look forward to getting back in the car on Day 3.”

Jörg Zander (Technical Director)
“We had a productive start to Test 2 today. Marcus completed 120 laps, and we collected plenty of useful data. We completed set-up work and tested different tyre compounds, learning about their behaviour on the evolving track conditions throughout the day. The car update worked well, within expectations. The team is on a positive path and I look forward to what we will learn in the upcoming days.”

Charles Leclerc will take over the cockpit of the C37 for the second day of Test 2 in Barcelona.

McLaren

Stoffel Vandoorne driving the McLaren MCL33 in Spain

An interrupted day to kick off the second week of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

The team suffered some niggling issues that meant running was relatively stop-start throughout the day. After an initial install lap as the track went green at 09:00am, Stoffel reported a loss of electrical power to the car and coasted back into the pits.

The same issue affected his next run, when after another three laps all electrical power to the car shut down, and Stoffel stopped out on track. The team investigated the issue and elected to swap the battery, after which Stoffel returned to the track just before lunch.

Despite a productive early-afternoon stint out on track, Stoffel’s run was cut short with a suspected hydraulic leak just before 16:00hrs. Due to the location of the leak, the investigation and fix were naturally time-consuming, and meant the day’s running concluded early.

Nevertheless, Stoffel completed 38 laps and still managed to gather a lot of useful data in preparation for tomorrow’s running.

Stoffel Vandoorne
“Today was challenging because of the issues we had which interrupted our running for today. We had a few stoppages on track, and we’ve been working through each one to make sure we’re fully prepared for tomorrow.

“The kinds of issue we’ve had weren’t particularly serious, but have taken a relatively long time to fix, so we weren’t able to run as much as we planned. The conditions this afternoon were quite tricky due to the wind, so the running we did wasn’t so representative.

“We’re hopeful the issues have been fixed and we can have a more productive day tomorrow.”

Eric Boullier, Racing Director
“Today wasn’t the day we had hoped for on track, but, despite this, we aren’t overly concerned about the issues that we’ve faced today.

“It’s obviously not the productive day we had planned, but the problems – a battery issue and a hydraulic leak – are the types of niggles that we almost hope and expect to face during testing, in order to prepare us properly for the season ahead.

“We are here to test, and today is what sometimes happens in testing. It’s not ideal, and we would have liked more track time, but we’re working on it, we’re learning from it, and we’ll return to the track tomorrow armed with more information.”

Williams

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

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer
It’s great to come here to some more normal weather in the second week of testing. We were running Sergey in the morning and Lance in the afternoon. Sergey had a bit of a slow start because we had a small problem with a bit of bodywork which lost us an hour to change some parts.

Sergey managed some reasonable runs but with the warmer temperature, it’s a bit windier this week so we had some tricky balance issues which we were not able to address during the morning session. Lance took the car in the afternoon with the objective to complete a race distance, which he did, taking it right to the flag. Lance’s long run also included our first look at the hypersoft tyre. At the end, we also completed the FIA restart tests. In summary, we’re very happy to cover a lot of laps today, including our first race distance with the FW41 without incident.

Sergey Sirotkin
We had warmer temperatures today but they were tricky conditions. It looked like a nice day but it was not so easy testing-wise. We had a couple of little issues throughout the morning so it was not ideal, but for sure it was still better than last week and I still learnt something from it. We also got some data which will help us tomorrow with the stuff we’re doing. Today was not ideal, but it is how it is.

Lance Stroll
It was just good to do some kilometres in the car. I have the first race distance of the year under my belt now and it was positive. I believe we have made a step forward compared to where we were last year with just the general feeling and grip level. I don't know where we will be compared to everyone else, but compared to last year's car, it definitely feels quite a bit better. So far, so good and we just need more seat time, quali sims, race sims and I believe we will be in a good place when we get our programme done and are heading into Melbourne.

I believe we can still improve a little bit everywhere. There is still so much we haven't tried on the car yet. In a Formula One car you have so many set ups and it takes two weeks to get everything out of the way. I believe there are still little things we can do and again, it was a race sim so I can't compare that to what we were doing last week on lower fuel. There is still a lot to learn but race simulation-wise, I believe we are in a good place. But also, definitely these conditions are not ideal, as this smooth surface in Barcelona doesn't give much graining to the tyres, so I am sure it will be very different when we show up in Australia.

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