Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg led the way on final day of first Barcelona F1 2019 test after a late quick lap helped him early pace-setter Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon.
Having taken over the car from Daniel Ricciardo in the afternoon session, Hulkenberg went for a quick lap to set a record-breaking 1m17.389s time on the red-walled C5 compound as he beat Albon’s 1m17.637s lap, set on the same compound.
Post his quick time, Hulkenberg stopped on the track to cause the day’s second red flag with the German only completing 24 laps with Albon undertaking 136 laps. Hulkenberg’s teammate Ricciardo ended up third with his best of 1m17.785s.
The Australian set his time on (C4) compound, completing 34 laps which was the same as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (1m17.857s) who finished fourth with teammate Lewis Hamilton (1m17.977s) in fifth – the former used the C5 compound with the latter on (C4).
Bottas did 57 laps to Hamilton’s 58. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m18.046s) was sixth from McLaren’s Lando Norris, who improved to a 1m18.431s after the British driver recovered from an early off in Turn 5 for the day’s first red flag.
In terms of laps covered, Leclerc did 138 laps with Norris undertaking 132 as the former set his best time on (C3) compound while the former set his on (C4). Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m18.511s) ended up eighth, setting his best time on (C3).
Giovinazzi caused the third red flag at the fag end of the day after Italian completed 154 laps in all. Haas were forced to change its plan with Romain Grosjean (1m18.563s) getting some track time in the morning to be ninth from Kevin Magnussen (1m18.720s).
Grosjean’s time was set on (C3) compound with Magnussen on the same set as they completed 64 and 66 laps respectively. Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly was 11th with his best of 1m18.780s on (C3) compound, completing 146 laps.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was 12th with his best of 1m19.664s on (C2) compound, completing 72 laps. The rear of the pack was completed by Williams’ George Russell and Robert Kubica in 12th and 13th respectively in a low-key test for the British team.
Russell posted a 1m20.997s lap on (C3) compound with only 17 laps on board after he took over from Kubica who did a 1m21.542s on (C2) with 48 laps which completed the first F1 test with the second one slated between February 26 – March 1.
In overall lap count for the four constructors’, Ferrari led the way with 1489 between three teams, followed by Honda on 957 with two teams, then Mercedes with 946 with three teams and Renault on 878 with two teams.
Among the outfits, Mercedes led the way with 610, followed by Ferrari on 598, Alfa Romeo on 507, Toro Rosso on 482, Red Bull on 475, McLaren on 445, Renault on 433, Haas on 384, Racing Point on 248 and Williams on 88.
