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 one

Live Text

Sort by
Newest first
Hulkenberg is back in the pits now, having completed nine laps this morning already. Vettel is now on his eighth, and Bottas leads the way with 11.
Perez takes the Racing Point (or Racing Dot, if you've seen the team's new logo), for its first lap of 2019.
Hulkenberg goes fastest with a 1m24.365s on C3 tyres.
The only cars we've not seen on track already this morning are the Williams, which isn't running today, and the Racing Point.
Bottas is back in the pits, having completed 11 laps in the first half an hour of pre-season testing.
In the pitlane, Motorsport Images' photographers have found the Racing Point ready to set off for its first appearance. The renamed team launched its livery last week, but kept its 2019 design hidden until today

In the pitlane, Motorsport Images' photographers have found the Racing Point ready to set off for its first appearance. The renamed team launched its livery last week, but kept its 2019 design hidden until today

We like the C3 tyres, because yellow is the only colour in use at testing that only represents one type of compound. With the red and the white markings, we have to - at speed - try to spot if they also have coloured lines between the writing or not. We'll do our best...
Hulkenberg joins the fun with a 1m33.861s on the yellow C3 tyres.
Grosjean trundles down the pitlane after completing an installation lap on intermediate tyres.
Bottas tours past us again, this time 10 seconds slower than his best so far today. He's already logged 10 laps this morning in the first 27 minutes of testing, despite a red flag delay for Raikkonen's off.
Bottas comes past the line slowly this time around, so no further improvement. Although it's still only two seconds slower than his best, so he must have slowed on the run to the line, rather than all the way around the lap.
This typically no nonsense start to testing for Mercedes mirrors the attitude it took to its car launch last week - when it became the first squad to be brave enough to reveal a "proper" 2019 design, as Jake Boxall-Legge and Giorgio Piola explained:

Bottas already has eight laps to his name. No-one else has more than two.
Bottas trims more time off his best with a 1m24.381s. Sainz is now on track in the McLaren, on the red C4 tyres.
Another new fastest time from Bottas - 1m25.163s on the yellow C3 tyres.
Kvyat and Verstappen both return to the pits after an installation lap. Photographers excitedly pay attention to one more than the other.
It's taking all of our power not to declare that Bottas is on 'softs'. During testing the yellow-marked tyres are simply 'C3' - the middle compound in the range of five that are available.
Kvyat joins Bottas on track, as does Verstappen. Two Honda teams on track together for the first time since the Japanese manufacturer came back to F1!
The Alfa has joined Raikkonen back in the pits, so we are green again. Bottas, inevitably, heads straight back out.
This is what Raikkonen's Alfa looked like successfully leaving the pits not many minutes ago...

This is what Raikkonen's Alfa looked like successfully leaving the pits not many minutes ago...

Lap count prior to the red flag:

Bottas 4
Vettel 2
Grosjean 1
Hulkenberg 1
Raikkonen (4 corners)
A bit of overexcitement above the pits as we spot the Red Bull being pushed back to the garage, but Verstappen (or his Honda engine) wasn't the cause of this stoppage by the looks of it - he just happened to be making his way down the pitlane when the session was stopped. The timing screens suggest Raikkonen's Alfa is the offending car.
Bottas posts the first time of testing - 1m28.515s on the 'C3' yellow compound of tyres.

By: Geoff Creighton

Published: