Formula One’s preseason continues on Thursday with the second day of testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.
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Laurence Edmondson says: Stood trackside for the first time this year and the thing that strikes me the most is the noise from the Honda engine as it downshifts. Both the Red Bull and the Alpha Tauri sound like a shotgun as they go down the gears into Turn 1.
Looks like it is mainly heavy fuel running at the moment, but the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all look nicely planted through this high speed section.
1620: Renault confirms Ocon is on a race simulation, where teams effectively mimic what they would do at key moments at a race weekend. He’s one of three drivers who has been churning out laps recently. The other two are Bottas and Norris.
1600: The Vietnam Grand Prix of April 5 continues to be a talking point. Organisers of the race insist the event is still on despite the ongoing spread of coronavirus.
1500: Times with three hours of today’s test to go.
1. Robert Kubica – Alfa Romeo – 1:16.942 – 53 laps
2. Pierre Gasly – Alpha Tauri – 1:17.540 – 25 laps
3. Alex Albon – Red Bull – 1:17.550 – 29 laps
4. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:17.562 – 89 laps
5. Lance Stroll – Racing Point – 1:17.787 – 43 laps
6. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes – 1:18.100 – 8 laps
7. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari – 1:18.113 – 84 laps
8. Sergio Perez – Racing Point – 1:18.213 – 18 laps
9. Daniel Ricciardo – Renault – 1:18.214 – 53 laps
10. Carlos Sainz – McLaren – 1:18.221 – 46 laps
11. Nicholas Latifi – Williams – 1:18.300 – 48 laps
12. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari – 1:18.481 – 14 laps
13. Romain Grosjean – Haas – 1:18.670 – 56 laps
14. Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 1:19.344 – 15 laps
15. Lando Norris – McLaren – 1:20.310 – 11 laps
16. Daniil Kvyat – Alpha Tauri – 1:25.082 – 9 laps
17. Kimi Raikkonen – Alfa Romeo – No time – 2 laps
1400: We’re back after the lunch break. Lots of changes at the teams now, with all but one of them (Haas) switching its drivers for the afternoon session.
12:25: This is not a drill… Robert Kubica has gone quickest in the Alfa Romeo! He now leads on a 1:16.942. That’s still over 1s off the quickest time we saw from Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes last week, for context, but it’s been a while since Kubica has been P1 in any F1 session.
12:00: It was a coincidence both Honda teams were stuck. Red Bull had a suspension problem, Alpha Tauri had an issue with a pipe.
Albon and Gasly have been out on track since those lengthy delays.
11:40: We have another red flag. Latifi’s Williams has ground to a halt on the exit of Turn 10, just over the brow of the hill.
11:30: The Red Bull cars have combined for just three laps this morning. Gasly was limited to just two for Alpha Tauri this morning, while Albon completed a single lap for Red Bull. Both cars have been stuck in the garage since.
1100: We very nearly had a Ferrari in the wall just now. Vettel lost control of his car coming through Turn 8 on the uphill approach to Turn 9. He managed to save it before he hit either wall – Kevin Magnussen wasn’t so lucky there on Friday, when a car failure at the same point saw him end up in the wall. On that occasion, Haas lost the rest of the day’s running. This time around, Vettel managed to get back to the pits.
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Sebastian Vettel did well to save that one. A tricky place to lose the car, with a wall very closely placed on either side of the circuit as it snakes up the hill towards Turn 9. Vettel will breathe a sigh of relief as that could have been an incredibly costly moment for Ferrari had he damaged the car.
1005: Kubica, back in the Alfa Romeo this morning, has spun at the final corner. Replays show him crawling around that section pretty slowly and then losing the rear of the car. Was likely on a warmup lap.
He’s got going again without any major drama.
If you needed an indication of the chilly conditions… 🥶
Kubica gets crossed up at the chicane#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/qwx2UNDAR8
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 26, 2020
0945: Some big news last night — Fernando Alonso is going back to the Indy 500 with McLaren. For a time it looked like he might have missed out on the opportunity, with Andretti Autosport talks breaking down amid Honda’s refusal to let him drive one of their cars. He’ll have to make do with a Chevrolet-powered McLaren, but it is a great chance to win the famous race nonetheless.
0930: Vettel and Hamilton have been the most productive drivers so far, both are already into double-digit laps. Ferrari lost a bit of time on Friday with an engine issue, but Mercedes will be looking to build on the fact it ended T1 as the team with the most mileage.
0900: Hello and welcome back to testing in Barcelona!
It’s going to be a busy one, with all but one team planning a driver swap at lunch.
1⃣9⃣ drivers on track today. Will be awesome! #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/ZAIuMsaU3y
— Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (@Circuitcat_eng) February 26, 2020