The wait for the 2019 F1 season got a bit tastier after Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended the final day of Barcelona test on top from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Even though Vettel (1m16.221s) had to close his day much earlier than he would have liked, the Ferrari still finished on top on the final day of the 2019 F1 season winter test with arch nemesis Hamilton (1m16.224s) only 0.003s apart.
The two drivers set their best time on the C5 compound (softest) with Mercedes finally opting to push for one lap on the final day – even though both the teams and drivers still have some pace left to discover to go even quicker.
Electrical issues for Ferrari meant, Vettel could only do 110 laps with Hamilton undertaking 61 laps in all after taking over the car from Valtteri Bottas (1m16.561s) in the afternoon with the Finn ending up third with his best on C5 as well with 71 laps in his kitty.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m16.843s) was fourth after taking over the car from Daniel Ricciardo in the afternoon session. The German set his best on c5 compound with 51 laps while Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1m16.898s) was fifth.
The Russian set his best on the C5 compound as well with 131 laps in all. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m16.913s) was sixth from Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m17.076s) and Renault’s Ricciardo (1m17.114s) with the trio completing 134, 73 and 52 laps.
It was the same C5 compound for the three drivers like ninth placed Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m17.239s) with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m17.565s on c5 compound) rounding out the Top 10 after he took over the car in the afternoon.
Raikkonen did 132 laps with Magnussen undertaking 94 despite stopping late in the day. Gearbox issue limited Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen’s (1m17.709s) run for the Dutchman to be only 11th with just 29 laps in all.
He set his best on (C3) compound before the trouble hit which sidelined him from testing all afternoon. It was gaining miles for Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m17.791s) and Williams’ Robert Kubica (1m18.993s) in 12th and 13th respectively.
The Mexican set his best on C5 like the Polish but the former did 104 laps to the latter’s 90. The two teams continue to have the lowest laps covered taking the count from both two Barcelona F1 pre-season tests for 2019.
The second test saw Mercedes complete 579 laps, followed by Renault with 529, then Williams with 479, Toro Rosso 453, Haas 434, McLaren 428, Alfa Romeo 415, Ferrari 399, Racing Point 377 and Red Bull 358.
As for the four constructors’ in the second test, Mercedes headed with 1435 laps among the three teams, followed by 1248 by Ferrari with three teams as well while Renault did 957 and Honda 811 with two teams apiece.
Check out Day 3’s report and also the data from the first test