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Formula 1

Barcelona F1 test day four

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On track: Stroll, Kubica, Gasly and Giovinazzi. All drivers on C3 tyres.
Hamilton pits having got our hopes up going out on the softest tyre for a Mercedes flier.
Stroll is on track with the C3 tyre for Racing Point.
Hamilton ran a little bit wide on the short straight before the final chicane. The lap is a 1m18.344s, which is better than the first split would have indicated.
Hamilton's sector times are not enough to improve at this rate.
Here's the evidence of Hamilton's tyre from our ace videographer Luke Hinsull

Here's the evidence of Hamilton's tyre from our ace videographer Luke Hinsull

Correction: Hamilton is actually out on the softest C5 tyre.
Giovinazzi jumps into fourth ahead of Grosjean with a personal best so far. It's an 18.511s, which is a tidy lap on the C3 tyre.
Hamilton joins the track on the C4 tyre, presumably to try and unseat Ricciardo at the top of the leaderboard.
Giovinazzi has his out lap in the bag, so we'll have a look at the sectors and work out what kind of run he's planning.

Both he and Gasly are on the C3 tyres.
Another lap in the 1m20s for Gasly, so he's going for a longer run on these C3s as we anticipated.
Giovinazzi ends Gasly's exclusivity on the circuit by joining in the action. He's fifth in the order as it stands.
Gasly can't improve on his personal best, but it's close enough that it looks like he's going for a consistent run on these tyres, rather that flying laps.
It is, a 1m19.495s, a personal best for Gasly and he leaps into sixth in the order.
Gasly has the DRS open down the back straight and a personal best middle sector to match. He could be lining up a flying lap here.
Information
Lap counts with less than 90 minutes of the first session remaining:

Grosjean - 46
Leclerc - 44
Ricciardo - 30
Giovinazzi - 29
Norris - 29
Albon - 27
Hamilton - 26
Stroll - 24
Kubica - 23
Gasly - 17
Red Bull's love for the C3 tyre continues as Gasly lines up a hot lap.
Albon follows Norris (it's Formula 2 again) into the pits.

Gasly is on an out lap, and the only car on track.
Norris pits after his improvements on the C3 tyre.
Gasly exits the pits, to try and add to the 17 laps Red Bull have managed so far this morning.
Norris and Albon are the only drivers on track, for Formula 2 nostalgia purposes, we reckon.

Albon is on the C4, Norris on the C3 tyre.
Norris sets a personal best in a rather twitchy-looking McLaren. The time is a 1m19.702s.
Stopwatch
Albon ran wide dramatically at the Turn 7-8 sequence, and then at Turn 12 too. But he still improves his time! It's a 1m19.755s on the C4 tyre.
Ricciardo can't improve with another push lap, setting a still-impressive 1m18.229s.
Norris moves up to seventh after bolting on the C3 tyre, with a 1m19.965s.
Our ace videographer Luke Hinsull has been a handy tyre spotter at F1 testing this week. He's grabbed this close up of the Haas, after he successfully located the pit exit...

Our ace videographer Luke Hinsull has been a handy tyre spotter at F1 testing this week. He's grabbed this close up of the Haas, after he successfully located the pit exit...

Giovinazzi has pitted. Albon joins the track.
Ricciardo has backed off on this lap. Will he go for another push next time around?
Stopwatch
Ricciardo is on the C4 tyre and leaps to the top of the timing screens with a session-fastest 1m17.913s. Brilliant stuff.
Stopwatch
Hamilton dropped two tenths in the middle sector, but improves to a 1m17.977s on the C4 tyre.

Most of his times this morning have been Mercedes's best of the test so far, so obviously that's the first time it has dipped into the 1m17s.
Hamilton immediately sets the fastest first sector time of the session.
Hamilton is out for some more running. He is already top of the session.
Jake Boxall-Legge
A new development from Alfa Romeo during the second half of testing, adding a small fin to the engine cover just ahead of the rear wing, with a drooping T-wing attached to the trailing edge. <br><br>This is going to clean up airflow ahead of the rear wing, ensuring it’s not too affected by any pockets of turbulence being shed from the engine cover. <br><br>Similar to what McLaren runs, it’s interesting that the fold in the engine cover comes as its own separate piece of bodywork, hinting at further developments in this area...

A new development from Alfa Romeo during the second half of testing, adding a small fin to the engine cover just ahead of the rear wing, with a drooping T-wing attached to the trailing edge.

This is going to clean up airflow ahead of the rear wing, ensuring it’s not too affected by any pockets of turbulence being shed from the engine cover.

Similar to what McLaren runs, it’s interesting that the fold in the engine cover comes as its own separate piece of bodywork, hinting at further developments in this area...

Information
Tyre choices on track:

C3: Kubica, Stroll, Giovinazzi, Grosjean

Albon has just pitted.
Norris pits from a short run on the C5.
Giovinazzi improves to a 1m19.258s, stays fifth.
Stroll has improved on the C3 tyre but stays seventh in the order.
KUBICA again. 1m22.681s. Almost up with the back of the pack now.

By: Geoff Creighton

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