2017 Formula 1 Barcelona Test 2 – Day 4 (FINAL DAY)
It’s the final testing session before the 2017 Formula 1 season begins in Melbourne, in just a couple of weeks!
With Raikkonen setting a great time for Ferrari – topping the time sheets, does it mean that Ferrari are now the team to be looking at?
Let’s take a look at how the final day of testing went.
Ferrari – Formula 1 Test
Driver – Kimi Raikkonen
Lap Time – 1:18.634
A great day for the Ferrari team who topped the time sheets today with Raikkonen’s flying lap from the morning.
The first time under the 1:19’s and it’s from the Iceman himself who sets the fastest time of 1:18.634.
Running 11 laps in total – it’s a great way for Ferrari to finish pre-season testing ahead of the race day in just a couple of weeks.
Mercedes – Formula 1 Test
Driver – Bottas (Morning) Hamilton (Afternoon)
Bottas Lap Time – 1:19.845
Hamilton Lap Time – 1:19.850
Another day and another milestone for the Mercedes team!
While they didn’t top the time-sheets today, they did manage to get through the 1000-lap barrier for winter testing.
Hamilton took the car for the final afternoon testing before the big race in a couple of weeks and he made his way through the time-sheets, gathering as much data for the team to analyse.
RedBull Racing – Formula1 Test
Driver – Max Verstappen
Lap Time – 1:19.438
The final day of pre-season testing ahead of the Australian Grand Prix in just a fortnight’s time! Today was the final time in the car for RedBull’s driver, Max Verstappen who set the second fastest time of the day with 1:19.438.
Getting through 71 laps – the team are now focusing on improving the car ahead of the Melbourne season-opener!
Here’s what Max Verstappen had to say!
Max Verstappen – “I’m not too worried about the small issues we’ve had, that’s what testing is for – they aren’t major problems and I’m sure they will be solved before Melbourne.”
“In terms of lap times – I think we just have to wait and see the first race weekend. For us the most important thing today was to check the balance a bit more and work on getting the car where we want it.”
“The performance is not too bad. For sure we want to improve but for now, it’s OK. Testing is just about trying to improve the car – it’s not about qualifying lap times.”
Sauber Formula1 – Formula 1 Test
Driver – Marcus Ericsson (Morning) Pascal Wehrlein (Afternoon)
Marcus Ericsson Lap Time – 1:21.670 (Ultrasoft Tyre)
Pascal Wehrlein Lap Time – 1:23.527 (Soft Tyre)
The Sauber F1 team had a challenging last day of pre-season testing in Barcelona – with last minute changes regarding the planned programme for Pascal Wehrlein, who had to concentrate on aero tests for the coming races in the afternoon.
Marcus Ericsson worked through the planned programme, mainly focusing on short runs with supersoft and ultrasoft tyres.
Marcus Ericsson – “It was an interesting morning where I had some fun with short runs on the supersoft and ultrasoft tyres.”
“All in all, it’s a productive last morning at the end of pre-season testing. Without having an issues with the car.”
“For sure, we made some improvements but we are still not there, not where we want to be and we still have to do some work to analyse all the data and improve the car.”
Pascal Wehrlein – ‘It was another important afternoon for me in the new car, completing 42 laps overall.”
“We changed the programme and continued our extensive analysis of the Sauber C36-Ferrari by continuing aero tests on soft and medium tyres.”
‘Nonetheless, I was able to once again take a step forward and to get more familiar in the new car. I can’t wait for my first race with the Sauber F1 Team!”
McLaren Honda – Formula 1 Test
Driver – Fernando Alonso
Laps – 43
Best Lap Time – 1:21.389
“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to make the next step we need to be ready for Australia”
McLaren-Honda’s progress on the final day of pre-season testing was hampered by a series of intermittent electrical issues.
The problem caused the car to shut down – stopping Fernando out on track twice within a few short laps in the morning session. At this stage, it’s unclear if it’s the same issue that Stoffel Vandoorne encountered yesterday.
Overnight, the team changed a number of electrical components on both the PU (Power Unit) and chassis but the problem continued.
With every run in the morning session, the team changed further parts in an effort to eliminate as many variables as possible and to try and identify the source.
Over the lunch break, the team tried to undertake more significant and time consuming changed in order to get the car back out on track for the afternoon.
Fernando managed to get back on track in the afternoon until the track closed for final day of pre-season testing.
Despite the issues of running – Fernando still managed to complete 43 laps of aero, set-up and tyre tests.
The team will now return to analyse all the data and information gathered from the test in order to develop and push the car forward in preparation for the Melbourne race in just a couple of weeks time.
Fernando Alonso – “Today was a disappointing way to end the test. We were not able to make the most of the final day of running and even thought the morning started positively, working well through our programme – the car lost power in the corner and shut-off.”
“We managed to fire it up again without any problems and everything ran smoothly for a few laps until it happened again so we realised that we needed to investigate deeper over the lunch break and make more changes.”
“It is clear that we have a lot of preparation ahead of us to be ready in time for Melbourne and I know that the team is working hard.”
“We will be able to find more answers once we get the car back to the factory and I’m hopeful that we will be able to make the next step to be ready for Australia!”
Lots more coming soon!
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Exciting times ahead!!! Xx
Author
YES!!!! So excited – cannot wait!!! 🙂 xxx