McLaren’s Lando Norris beats Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly with a late quick lap to top Day 1 of second F1 2019 Barcelona test.
Gasly headed the way for long until Norris went quicker with a 1m17.709s at the fag end of the first day of second F1 2019 test at Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona. The British driver set his best time on red-walled (C4) compound with 80 laps in all.
Norris’ joy was short-lived though as he stopped moments after the quick lap to cause the day’s last red flag after also being the culprit for the day’s first red flag moment. Meanwhile, Gasly had to settle for second with his best of 1m17.715s.
The two drivers were only separated by 0.006s as the Frenchman set his time on (C3) compound with 136 laps. After limited running in first test, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m17.824s) did well to be third on C5 compound with 82 laps.
Having taken over the car from Charles Leclerc in the afternoon, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (1m17.925s on (C3) compound) slotted in fourth with 81 laps, as morning pace-setter Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m18.589s on (C4) compound) in fifth with 99 laps.
A late improvement from Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon helped him to be sixth with a best of 1m18.649s on (C4) compound with 103 laps in all as Leclerc (1m18.651s on (C3) compound) ended up seventh from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m18.769s).
The Dane set his best time on (C4) compound with 131 laps, while Leclerc only did 29 after an issue limited his run. The Top 10 was rounded out by Williams’ George Russell (1m19.662s) and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m20.107s).
Russell set his best time on C5 compound and most importantly completed 119 laps after first test disaster while Ricciardo set his best on (C3) with 77 laps. An engine trouble limited Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas’ with Finn ending up 11th.
The power unit change meant he could only do seven laps to set 1m20.167s on (C2) compound but managed to finish ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton (1m20.332s on (C2) compound), who drove in the morning session with 83 laps in all.
The standings was rounded out by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, who ran in the morning session, with 80 laps in all as Ricciardo took over the car in the afternoon. The German set a 1m20.348s on (C3) compound.