Mercedes started the first F1 pre-season test of 2020 in style with Lewis Hamilton leading Valtteri Bottas and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.
The first day of the 2020 F1 pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona started off smoothly for all the 10 teams as Mercedes headed the standings with a 1-2 finish. Hamilton was quickest with a 1m16.976s (C2) lap from Bottas (1m17.313s, C3).
Interestingly, the quickest time on Day 1 of the 2019 test was in the 1m18s bracket which most of the teams have already broken into. Bottas drove the Mercedes F1 W11 in the morning session with Hamilton taking over in the afternoon.
Behind them was Racing Point’s Perez (1m17.375s, C3) – as they debuted their 2020 car which is quite similar to Mercedes W10. He drove in the morning session only. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1m17.516s, C3) was fourth despite the two spins he had.
AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat (1m17.698s, C3) slotted in fifth as he lost some time in the morning session due to software issue, with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m17.842s, C3) finishing sixth ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m17.873s, C2), who took over from Esteban Ocon in the afternoon.
The Frenchman (1m18.004s, C3) was eighth in the end with Williams’ George Russell (1m18.168s, C3) doing a super job for the British outfit to be ninth. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m18.282s, C2) was 10th after taking over in the afternoon as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m18.289s, C3) was 11th.
Leclerc got the nod to test on Day 1 after illness to Sebastian Vettel. He had a small off and some issues but Ferrari were quick to fix it. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m18.382s, C3) took over from Russell in the afternoon to be 12th.
Alfa Romeo Racing’s Robert Kubica (1m18.386s, C3) finished 13th after running only in the morning session as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m18.466s, C3) was 14th from Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m20.096s, C3), who drove in the afternoon.
Here’s the lap count:
🏁Day one is complete! #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/0iQ1XiHaA1
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 19, 2020
More to come
Here’s the F1 driver line-up for Day 2