Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text

Barcelona F1 test day four

Live Text

Sort by
Another fastest time for Grosjean - 1m19.905s on his C2 tyres.
Giovinazzi locks up at Turn 1 and takes a trip through the run-off.
Giovinazzi, Ricciardo and Stroll are all doing 1m21s at the moment.
Grosjean has switched to the harder C2 compound of tyres, and he lowers his benchmark for the day to a 1m20.070s.
Stroll briefly splits Giovinazzi and Ricciardo, but they have both improved in third and fourth and the Racing Point is back down to fifth.
Giovinazzi and Ricciardo put their first timed laps in of the day, and now Stroll joins them.
It can be a good time to go out in these conditions and do a lap time because of the cooler air so the engine will perform better and things will work more efficiently. Getting the tyres up to temperature is the tricky bit but if you can then the lap time will be there because you'll have more downforce thanks to the denser air.

You can see the denser air with the vortices coming off the rear wing endplates. But while you can do a time, you will also be running conditions that you won't normally run in so won't learn something. You can get the grip, there's a good chance to get a feel for the car on low fuel and maybe get a good headline time. But to learn about the car, it's a waste of time.
Leclerc's Ferrari appears to have dropped a small device (possibly a camera) from its front wing on the back straight.
Oh, while we were telling you about Leclerc's 1m22s, he improved to a 1m21.461s. Still second.
Oh, while we were marvelling at Leclerc's vapour trails, he improved to a 1m22.250s. Still second.
The cool temperatures this morning are giving us a visual effect we like in F1 but that you don't see that often anymore - the vapour trails coming off the rear wing endplates at speed. We always think those look great.
Leclerc posts his first time of the day, 1m25.159s on C2 tyres. It started with an outside front lock-up at Turn 1, which was probably down to the cold temperatures. As we type that, he has overshot the apex to Turn 10, but avoided another lock-up at least.
Kubica's been to the same garden fence shop as Gasly, but he has two pieces behind the front wheels, whereas Red Bull placed one giant piece in front of the left rear.
Grosjean improves to a 1m20.851s. If you think you've seen Magnussen's name in our timing box this morning, we didn't make a mistake - your eyes were playing tricks on you.
Grosjean's had a lock-up at Turn 1 and been through the asphalt run-off area.
Here's an early look at lap counts so far:

Norris - 5
Grosjean - 4
Ricciardo - 4
Giovinazzi - 3
Gasly - 3
Kubica - 2
Albon - 2
Stroll - 1
Leclerc - 1
Hamilton - 1
1m21.537s for Grosjean next time by, as Gasly returns the Red Bull to the pits with an aero rake that could do a decent job as a fence in someone's garden once testing is over.
No messing about from Grosjean, who gets straight on with it and posts the first time of the day - a 1m23.051s on C3 tyres. Those are the yellow ones, which are the only tyres we've not misidentified at some point.
Gasly snuck out in the Red Bull just before the red flag, and he's headed straight out again now we are back to green. So we've had all 10 cars in action nice and early today.
As the McLaren is loaded back down to ground level and into the garage, the track is open again and Grosjean is the first to head out.
This picture might not show it, but we reckon that's the fastest we've ever seen a flatbed charge down the pitlane at F1 testing. Is Alonso driving it?

This picture might not show it, but we reckon that's the fastest we've ever seen a flatbed charge down the pitlane at F1 testing. Is Alonso driving it?

The flatbed/McLaren combo has made it back to the pits. We should be back to green shortly.
If there is such thing as a good time for a red flag, then the first hour of a chilly (4 degrees) morning is probably it. Nobody (with the possible exception of Williams) will be in the garage right now furious that they are missing out on these track conditions.
Flatbed truck 1 - 0 McLaren MCL34. The truck manages to do what Norris couldn't, and reverses out of the gravel.
The McLaren is under its covers, waiting to be lifted onto one of the circuit's fetching recovery flatbed trucks.
Norris is back in the pits, explaining that baffling off to the McLaren team members.
Red flag. That was one of the strangest, slowest incidents we've ever seen. Norris was touring round at very low speed, then he got to Turn 5, had a tiny twitch at the rear and then ploughed straight on into the gravel! Bizarre.
The appearance of the Toro Rosso means its sister team Red Bull is the only car we haven't seen yet in the opening 15 minutes of the day.
You'd have noticed in our first pic from the window that the Toro Rosso was being pushed out of the garage the moment the pitlane opened. However, it's only just gone out for its first lap. Confusing.

By: Geoff Creighton

Published: