Subscribe

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
Commentary

Live: F1 Barcelona pre-season test - Day 3

Formula 1 pre-season testing continues ahead of the 2022 season in Barcelona with the final day of the shakedown test.

After a busy opening couple of days, all 10 teams complete the first test of the new era of F1 under the new technical regulations.

Track action gets underway at 8am GMT and finishes at 5pm GMT. The day will be split by a one-hour lunch break (12pm-1pm GMT) which can be reduced if requested due to lost track time from either red flags or poor weather conditions.

The final day will provide another good look at all of the 2022 F1 cars from every team, to see which teams have got it right and which have work to do. While never fully taken as the true pecking order, due to teams hiding outright performance levels by sandbagging their speeds, the tests still reveal an overview while giving teams which are struggling nowhere to hide.

The Barcelona shakedown test, conducted without live TV coverage or live timing, runs between 23-25 February. A second official test will follow in Bahrain on 10-12 March ahead of the 2022 F1 season opener at the same venue, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on 18-20 March.

By: Haydn Cobb, Jake Boxall-Legge

Summary

Leaderboard

  1. Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m19.138s, C5 - 94 laps
  2. Russell, Mercedes, 1m19.233s, C5 - 66
  3. Perez, Red Bull, 1m19.556s, C4 - 74
  4. Verstappen, Red Bull, 1m19.756s, C3 - 59
  5. Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m19.824s, C5 - 48
  6. Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m19.831s, C3 - 44
  7. Sainz, Ferrari, 1m20.072s, C3 - 92
  8. Albon, Williams, 1m20.318, C4 - 94
  9. Latifi, Williams, 1m20.699s, C4 - 13
  10. Ricciardo, McLaren, 1m20.750, C3 - 86
  11. Norris, McLaren, 1m20.827s, C3 - 52
  12. Alonso, Alpine, 1m21.242s, C3 - 12
  13. Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m21.939s, C3 - 41
  14. Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m22.469s, C4 - 40
  15. Mazepin, Haas, 1m26.229s, C3 - 9
  16. Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m30.433s, C3 - 10
Summary
-Hamilton tops final day of the Barcelona F1 shakedown test
-Russell led disrupted morning session hit by five red flags: Alonso (hydraulics), Gasly (crash), Zhou x2 (crash, mechanical), Vettel (car fire)
-Circuit soaked with water tankers during lunch break for Pirelli wet tyre test, dry tyre running resumes after 90 minutes
Status: Stopped
And that's all from us! It's been an absolute pleasure to be able to bring you all the action from Barcelona - hope you've enjoyed it! We wish you a great weekend - and look forward to seeing you again for Bahrain. Goodnight!

Total laps and km per team across Barcelona F1 test

1. Ferrari - 439 laps - 2052 km
2. Mercedes - 393 - 1837
3. McLaren - 367 - 1715
4. Red Bull - 358 - 1673
5. Williams - 347 - 1622
6. AlphaTauri - 308 - 1439
7. Aston Martin - 296 - 1383
8. Alpine - 266 - 1243
9. Alfa Romeo - 175 - 818
10. Haas - 160 - 748

Total laps and km per driver across Barcelona F1 test

1. Carlos Sainz Jr. - 236 laps - 1103 km
2. Daniel Ricciardo - 212 - 991
3. George Russell - 209 - 977
4. Alexander Albon - 207 - 967
5. Max Verstappen - 206 - 963
6. Charles Leclerc - 203 - 949
7. Pierre Gasly - 187 - 874
8. Lewis Hamilton - 184 - 860
9. Sebastian Vettel - 174 - 813
10. Lando Norris - 155 - 724
11. Sergio Pérez - 152 - 710
12. Fernando Alonso - 141 - 659
13. Nicholas Latifi - 140 - 654
14. Esteban Ocon - 125 - 584
15. Lance Stroll - 122 - 570
16. Yuki Tsunoda - 121 - 565
17. Guanyu Zhou - 112 - 523
18. Mick Schumacher - 89 - 416
19. Nikita Mazepin - 71 - 331
20. Valtteri Bottas - 54 - 252
21. Robert Kubica - 9 - 42

2022 F1 Barcelona test: Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 on final day

Here's the report from the final session in the Barcelona pre-season test:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/2022-f1-barcelona-test-hamilton-leads-mercedes-1-2-on-final-day/8493144/
The customary practice starts took place before the cars returned to the garage: Sainz taking the first-place grid slot for his own effort - in front of Perez. Once they'd both got away, Hamilton took the P1 spot for himself.
And that's it! The first three-day F1 test of the year is over - Hamilton from Russell from Perez from Verstappen. It'd be a Noah's Ark top 10 if Vettel wasn't loitering in P5, ahead of Leclerc, Sainz, Albon, Latifi, Ricciardo and Norris.
It looked as thought Hamilton was going to end the session with another fastest lap - but he backed off massively! What a tease...
Hamilton takes 0.003s out of his time to set a 1m19.138s - on C5s. He said he's been to the year, three-thousandths...
It's a 1m20.072s for Sainz on the C3s, moving the Ferrari driver up to P7 ahead of Albon. The Williams driver has overtaken him on lap count, sitting on 86 to Sainz's 84.
Hamilton sets a 1m19.141s to go top on C4 tyres, with 16 minutes of the test left to run. If he'd matched his earlier best third sector, it'd have been in the 1m18s...
Oh, here we go - brace...
Hamilton sets a 1m19.674, complete with fastest first sector, to move up to P3 on his set of C4 tyres. He did a faster final sector on an earlier lap, which was 0.4s quicker.
Hopefully we have a lull in fast times to find more obscure testing liveries - not the orange McLarens or anything like that, they're not obscure enough! How about this pre-zip livery 1999 BAR?

 

Perez now makes a move up to second place overall with a set of C4s, moving team-mate Verstappen down a place with a 1m19.556s - just over 0.3s off Russell's morning benchmark.
Sainz and Hamilton have improved marginally, with Sainz moving up to P8 with a 1m20.518s, while Hamilton goes P5 with a 1m20.225s on the C3 compound.
Remember when Arrows ran its Orange (and orange) liveried A21 in all-black during the winter months? Pepperidge Farm remembers: 

 

Given Mazepin's done nine laps all day in the all-white Haas, it may prove to be one of the more elusive testing liveries. Are we going to use this as an opportunity to dig out obscure liveries from pre-season tests? You betcha.

 

There's not a lot of running going on right now - just Albon and Ricciardo doing the legwork at the moment. Ricciardo's McLaren just flashed past in a pitlane drive-through and...let's just say it needs a good clean. Heard the MCL36 is also available in orange.
A brace of personal bests come out of nowhere, as Perez sets a 1m20.441s to go P7 while Hamilton posts a 1m20.410s to sit above him in sixth. They split the Williamses on the timing boards as a result.
Sainz is pushing Hamilton for lappiest (it's a word, trust me bro) driver of the day - Hamilton's now up to 72, Sainz sits on 70. Ferrari's tally for today is 114, just four more than Red Bull's count of 110.
On the main @autosport Twitter account, Luke Smith will be answering your questions over the next 30 minutes. Got a burning question? Ask away!
As Hamilton clocks onto 70, Mercedes has 136 laps for the day so far.  Meanwhile, Sainz posts a 1m20.883s to go P10.
Thanks to his near ever-presence on the circuit this afternoon, Hamilton has the most laps of the day of all the drivers - with 69. Nice.
Hamilton returns to the circuit after a short spell in the garage. Here's an artist's impression of the work done in the Mercedes car hole: 

 

Alex Kalinauckas
"The Williams is smoking again - a big plume when Albon steps on the gas each time out of Turn 5."

 

Alex Kalinauckas
We've got an hour and 20 minutes left - and Sainz, Perez and Albon are all on-track. All former and present team-mates of some gentleman named Max Verstappen.
Ricciardo meanwhile moves up to eighth in the standings after logging a 1m20.790s - jumping above McLaren team-mate Norris.
That's an early bath for three teams - and with an hour and a half to go, it's unclear if we'll see Yuki Tsunoda this afternoon.
 
Alex Kalinauckas
"Looks like it wasn’t knackered C3s giving Hamilton trouble at Turn 4 - he’s repeatedly locking his left front even on fresh C2s. It doesn’t seem to be costing him speed through the corner, but it won’t help come the end of a high-fuel stint."
Alex Kalinauckas
Hamilton comes in to the pitbox, and the mechanics treat it as a live pitstop practice scenario. Three tyres go on relatively swiftly, but a sticky right-rear causes a slight delay. Engine off, and it's back into the garage for the Mercedes.
Hamilton's continuing his afternoon running; he's logged 64 laps in the past 2 hours and 20 minutes. Perez has also returned to the track to clock a 1m20.452s - while we've seen neither hide nor hair of the Aston or AlphaTauri this afternoon as they continue repairs.
Ricciardo moves up to ninth with a 1m21.448s, while Hamilton posts a 1m23.030s on the C2 tyre.
Alex Kalinauckas
"Hamilton was having a bit of trouble into Turn 4 before he pitted - he locked the left-front twice in a row here. He was on the C3s for a while on what looks like a race sim, so they were likely pretty worn. The car looks quite lethargic through Turns 1/2 from across the way to Turn 4, which suggests a heavy fuel load."
Alex Kalinauckas
Perez leapfrogs Sainz in the overall timings, moving up to P9 overall. Ricciardo shuffles up to 12th with a 1m22.003s, while Hamilton's also on track and casually sets a purple final sector in a pit-out lap.
Alex Kalinauckas
"Out of Turn 5, we see the Williams is puffing faint trails of blue smoke. Could be the early signs of a problem, but equally could be nothing..."
Alex Kalinauckas
Albon continues his rise through the order and posts a 1m20.318s - which elevates him to fifth overall and above team-mate Latifi. A 5-6 for Williams thus far.
Perez now continues to bring the times down to a 1m21.921s, lifting him up to P10 above Zhou.
They are indeed C2 tyres on Perez's RB18, and he brings his time down to a 1m23.525s. Albon and Sainz are out on C4s, Hamilton now on C3s - and Albon fires in a 1m20.847s for his best lap of the day - going P7.
Sainz has chipped another 0.2s out of his best time, moving up to P8 with a 1m21.776s. Perez is also back out, setting a personal best of 1m27.938s on what looked like C2s.

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

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