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Formula 1

Barcelona F1 test two day one

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Circuit cameras reveal the stranded Red Bull being wrapped in a sheet and loaded on to the flatbed, ready to be decanted back at the garage.
The red flag offender pictured on an admittedly grainy CCTV camera

The red flag offender pictured on an admittedly grainy CCTV camera

Looks like Verstappen has halted at the first corner.
Red flag
Ericsson, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez and Stroll back into the pits, so just Verstappen out there now - Red Bull crew are getting into a circuit car just below our viewing station.
Perez back out on softs after a garage interregnum.
Stuart Codling
One of the Renault crew has stopped by Autosport's eyrie to report that the plan for this afternoon is for Sainz to complete a race distance, so we aren't going to see him lighting up the timing screens any time soon. He's presently lapping consistently in the 1m25s.
Stroll's joined the fun in the Williams. Vettel's pounding round in the 1m21s.
Hamilton is on his latest stint and has improved his time

Hamilton is on his latest stint and has improved his time

Hamilton has improved to a 1m21.093s. Not quite enough to displace Gasly.
Now the McLaren is heading into the garage to the frustration of the team

Now the McLaren is heading into the garage to the frustration of the team

A frustrating sight for McLaren, snapped by our very own Edd Straw

A frustrating sight for McLaren, snapped by our very own Edd Straw

Ericsson's on super-soft tyres. And now you know.
Stuart Codling
For those interested in the etymology of the word 'beeline', according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary it dates from around 1830 and derives from the belief that nectar-laden bees take a direct route back to the hive.
Sainz and Vettel are on medium Pirellis. Hamilton is on softs. Ericsson joins the fray in the Sauber, but we haven't seem him so don't know what tyres he's on. Sorry!
Vettel's out in the Ferrari as well as Hamilton in the Mercedes.
Reckon that was 10 seconds before an engine fired up again. Sainz makes a beeline for the pitlane exit in the Renault.
Green flag
The McLaren's back. And there's the green flag.
Gary Anderson
We've had question on Twitter from Max (@pipperella12), who asks 'What is the pitlane burn out for? I can only guess they are simulating more wear on the rears as the track is harder on the fronts?'

The drivers do a pitlane burnout to get the rear tyres to the temperature that they want for a simulated race start at the end of the pitlane. Really, they are just preparing the tyres as they would do on the way to the grid at an actual race start.
The recovery truck leads two support vehicles through Turns 2 and 1 (weird seeing those corners taken in reverse) and duck into the pitlane. We should be going again very shortly.
Meaningful mileage is key this week. Who's winning that race? Mercedes on 125 laps (Bottas 86, Hamilton 39), Red Bull on 113 laps, Ferrari on 111, Sauber and Renault on 75 (Hulkenberg 48, Sainz 27), Williams on 59 (Sirotkin 42, Stroll 17), Force India on 52, Haas on 50 and McLaren on 38.
The truck performs a neat U-turn on the run-off area exiting Turn 3, and the McLaren is heading back to the pitlane.
The McLaren is on the back of the flatbed truck now, and should be back en route to the pits soon.
Stop us if you've heard it before, but a McLaren causes another red flag

Stop us if you've heard it before, but a McLaren causes another red flag

Here's rather grainy CCTV of the stranded McLaren

Here's rather grainy CCTV of the stranded McLaren

The Belgian has pulled off to the inside of the track, recovery vehicles are just arriving to tend to the stricken MCL33.
It's Vandoorne stopped at Turn 3...
Red flag
Red flag!
Stuart Codling
Stroll is on a long-ish run on softs and chipping away, starting with a 1m28.311s, then a 1m26.316s, then settling into the 1m25s bracket. No improvement yet on his 1m25.214s from earlier, though.
Verstappen's 112th lap meanwhile moves him one clear of Vettel.
Supersofts again for Vandoorne, but no improvement on his first flying lap.
Vandoorne back out in the McLaren. The Belgian remains the slowest of all those who had the benefit of running this morning,
Teams are taking advantage of the warmer and more representative conditions

Teams are taking advantage of the warmer and more representative conditions

Stuart Codling
Verstappen's average pace on those mediums is in the ballpark with what Bottas was doing earlier on that compound, but generally a few fractions of a second off - and in warmer conditions.
Vettel ends his current stint to bring his running to 111 laps, 14 fewer than Mercedes' current total (Sutton Images)

Vettel ends his current stint to bring his running to 111 laps, 14 fewer than Mercedes' current total (Sutton Images)

Hamilton pits. He's done 39 laps, putting Mercedes on a total of 125.
Verstappen is on mediums, Ericsson and Stroll are on softs. Vettel pits the Ferrari, 111 laps down.

By: Geoff Creighton

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