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Formula 1

Barcelona F1 test day one

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Here's the full round-up from a morning that featured Ferrari setting a dominant pace, Raikkonen in the gravel but then flying, and problems for Haas:

F1 testing: Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel dominate first morning

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari dominated the opening morning of 2019 Formula 1 testing, sitting nearly two seconds clear at the top of the times at the lunchbreak

F1 testing: Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel dominate first morning
Crash
More bad news for Williams - it is set to miss day two of testing as well.
Quote
Claire Williams: "It is looking more likely than not that we will now not be in a position to run on track until Wednesday at the earliest. This is obviously extremely disappointing, but it is unfortunately the situation we are in. We will be getting the FW42 on track as soon as we are able."
Here's the full story of that latest blow for Williams:

Williams set to also miss second day of Barcelona F1 test

The Williams Formula 1 team expects to skip the entire second day of pre-season testing and not start running until Wednesday “at the earliest”.

Williams set to also miss second day of Barcelona F1 test
There's noise down in the pits, that must mean there's some action coming up soon.
The major storyline for the afternoon will be the debut of Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, in a proper F1 session with the squad for the first time.

His team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, was seventh of nine cars in the morning session with a lap of 1m20.980s. Today is the first time we'll get to see the highly-rated team-mates go shoulder-to-shoulder.

Lewis Hamilton also hops into action this afternoon with Mercedes. He replaces Valtteri Bottas who was third in this morning's session.
Green flag
There's a Honda fired up underneath the media centre at the Circuit de Catalunya, and that means just one thing. Fever.

The afternoon session is underway.
Did the teams get the memo, start time 1400hrs? Perhaps they are still at lunch...
Information
While we wait for someone - anyone - to head back out, here's a reminder of the fastest lap times so far today:

1 Vettel (Ferrari) 1m18.161s
2 Perez (Racing Point) 1m19.944s
3 Bottas (Mercedes) 1m20.127s
4 Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 1m20.160s
5 Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m20.174s
6 Sainz (McLaren) 1m20.430s
7 Hulkenberg (Renault)1m20.980s
8 Grosjean (Haas) 1m21.500s
9 Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1m21.732s
Information
And here's what the initial lap count looks like after this morning's session:

Vettel - 72
Bottas - 69
Hulkenberg - 65
Sainz - 56
Verstappen - 52
Raikkonen - 46
Kvyat - 35
Perez - 20
Grosjean - 18
Noise! We have noise! Vettel is the first car out after topping the morning-ish session.
False alarm, just an install lap for Vettel. He's pitted and gone back out again after a brief stop at the end of the pitlane.
Autosport
Alfa Romeo's design appears less extreme than the version spotted testing last week, but it still looks like a car capable of leading the midfield fight. Here's our technical analysis of the C38 from GARY ANDERSON and JAKE BOXALL-LEGGE

Toned down Alfa still looks like a midfield leader - F1 - Autosport Plus

Certain elements of Alfa Romeo's new F1 car are less extreme than the version spotted in action last week, but the C38 seen in testing still has the hallmarks of a machine ready to help the team pick up where it left off at the end of last season

Toned down Alfa still looks like a midfield leader - F1 - Autosport Plus
No exciting times out of Vettel right now. He's constantly over the 1m22s after setting a 1m18.161s this morning.

He's still the only driver on track.
This feels a bit more 'getting on with the real bit of testing' from Ferrari than this morning's short runs on the C3 tyres where he set those times that nobody else has got near so far. He's already got nine flying laps in the bag on this run, although he's roughly four seconds off his pace from this morning.
Hamilton emerges from the Mercedes garage, having taken over from Bottas. White-marked C2 tyres for the world champion to start his 2019 testing programme.
Hamilton and Vettel are the only drivers on track, but they've somehow managed to be running only a handful of seconds apart. Hamilton is ahead, and about to post his first time of the day, which has included running wide at Turn 7.
Hamilton's first time is a 1m27.684s, nearly six seconds off the back of the field.
1m24.634s for Hamilton next time around as he closes in on Kvyat's best.
Hamilton's leisurely pace to start the afternoon means he's being caught on track by Vettel at the moment. Photographers at the ready...
Information
Unsurprisingly, there's little change in the lap totals given only two cars have taken to the track this afternoon:

Vettel - 89
Bottas - 69
Hulkenberg - 65
Sainz - 56
Verstappen - 52
Raikkonen - 46
Kvyat - 35
Perez - 20
Grosjean - 18
Hamilton - 5
Hamilton is eight seconds slower than Vettel that time around, so they've swapped positions on track and are already quite spaced out from each other again. Photographers, stand down.
Information
Here are the fastest times as things stand - the only change being Hamilton's addition at the foot of the times:

1 Vettel (Ferrari) 1m18.161s
2 Perez (Racing Point) 1m19.944s
3 Bottas (Mercedes) 1m20.127s
4 Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 1m20.160s
5 Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m20.174s
6 Sainz (McLaren) 1m20.430s
7 Hulkenberg (Renault)1m20.980s
8 Grosjean (Haas) 1m21.500s
9 Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1m21.732s
10 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m24.634s
Vettel pits, and we have our first same-coloured-tyres dilemma as it's really difficult to tell if that was the hardest C1 tyre or the also-white but slightly softer C2. That was a run of 15 timed laps.
Hamilton pits as well, but he doesn't stop at the Mercedes garage and carries on to the end of the pits.
After a practice start, Hamilton comes back around to the pits, this time pulling up outside the Mercedes garage and leaving the engine running. He gives it some revs, pulls away, then comes to a controlled stop and switches everything off to be pushed back into the garage. He's got eight laps to his name now, having taken over the W10 from Bottas after lunch.
Perez and Raikkonen have now taken over from Vettel and Hamilton as the only two cars on track. Perez is on the yellow C3 tyres, Raikkonen on the white C2s.
First look at Hamilton in testing action in the W10

First look at Hamilton in testing action in the W10

Raikkonen is lapping in the mid-1m20s on this run, not too shabby compared to his fastest time of the day of 1m20.1s.
Vettel's average from that earlier stint, over 14 laps (as we've discounted one slow lap) was 1m22.291s. As we said earlier, hard to tell which of the white-marked tyres he was on, either C1 or C2.
Raikkonen follows up those mid 1m20s with a new personal best - 1m20.047s on his fourth flying lap of this run on C2 tyres.
Vettel is definitely on the C2 tyres now, which makes us think it's more likely that the harder to identify set he was on earlier were indeed a set of C1s, with slightly fewer white markings on them. They're easy to tell apart when they are standing still, sure!
Raikkonen is just a tenth slower than his best on his next attempt - this is a rapid run from the Alfa Romeo.
WindowCam caught a view of Hamilton being wheeled back after his previous run

WindowCam caught a view of Hamilton being wheeled back after his previous run

Verstappen joins the action after what is becoming a customary sit outside the garage with the Honda engine garbling away for a bit before he sets off. Because Red Bull are right underneath the media centre, the noise attracts excited (and perhaps not very busy) media types to rush to the window each time to look at a car not going anywhere for a few seconds. At least some of the technical-minded folk are making use of it to get a good overhead view of the RB15's skinny packaging.
Autosport
Testing has barely begun, but news has already emerged of an FIA technical directive. This one relates to fuel usage, and will require teams to declare how much they intend to put in their cars for races www.autosport.com
Verstappen goes second with his fist lap of the afternoon, putting him just half a second down on Vettel with a 1m19.600s.
Red flag
Red flag, looks like Sainz has had a drama at the end of the pits.

By: Geoff Creighton

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