CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA | One of the most useless and odd days of preseason in recent years. A total of 16 laps between the only five drivers who have went on the track. Undoubtedly, no conclusions extracted and a completely unusual day in Formula 1 testing.
The day has started with the worst possible conditions. A strong snowfall has forced to wave red flag from nine in the morning, which has prevented the pilots from leaving until 12:00. Since that hour the first driver who has dared to jump into the car and do some laps has been Fernando Alonso. He has been followed with Daniel Ricciardo (with minor incident included) and Marcus Ericsson.
The Australian has made two installation laps, and, in the second one, he has gone off track. That has meant that he did not get back on track in the remainder of the afternoon.
Later, after 3:00 pm, Robert Kubica and Brendon Hartley decided to go on track. The Polish driver has done a sole lap in the second time that he had to get into the car, while the New Zealander made a first lap at the beginning and then returned to the pits to go once again at the end of the session.
After a long time without action on the track that made us believe in the press room that the test could end there, Fernando Alonso has given surprised and has returned to the track. First, several laps of installation to return to the box, but finally, with ten minutes to go, he has completed the first lap. Then, two more laps with a set time with a final time of 2:18.545 with full wet tyres.
Alonso has returned to box after the checkered flag. 11 total laps with no more purpose than accumulating mileage. The weather conditions have been awful throughout the day. After the snowy morning, the rain has been present and has puddled even more the track.
The drivers did not want to take any risks, not because of the rain, but because of the severe cold. The temperature of the track has not surpassed 5ºC, while the air has remained cold throughout the day with a maximum temperature of 6ºC.
Tomorrow the conditions should be better. The rain should disappear and temperatures may rise to 14ºC. Actually, it can be the first day of useful testing of the entire first week of pre-season. Therefore, the activity will be frenetic in the Catalan track.
