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Formula 1 Barcelona February Testing

F1 Barcelona pre-season test - Day 3

Minute by minute updates on the final day of the 2022 Barcelona F1 pre-season test

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG

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.

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Red flag

Red flag

The session has been paused, as it appears there's been a stoppage on track. It's Gasly in the first sector, according to the timing screens.
Stopwatch
Verstappen puts in a 1m19.756s on the C3s to move within two-tenths of Russell.
Stopwatch
Leclerc is the latest mover up the timesheet, climbing to third place with a 1m20.308s on the C3 tyres.
Photo

From memory this is the first time Mercedes has run the C4 tyres at this test. Russell is in and out of the pits and sets off for another stint.

 

Photo by: Haydn Cobb

Stopwatch
A Mercedes on the C4 tyres! Russell puts in a 1m19.608s to go fastest overall.
Stopwatch
Zhou continues to chip away at his personal best lap times during this stint, while Vettel moves up to third with a 1m20.685s.
Stopwatch
Zhou pops up to ninth with a 1m22.371s on the C3s.
Back to the track action and Norris and Gasly have made minor lap time gains but nothing to trouble the top times so far. Russell now leads the way on most laps this morning with 45.
F1 has announced Mazepin won't take part in today's press conference held during the lunch break, but Haas team boss Steiner is speaking to the media in the next hour.
Luke Smith
Luke Smith
"Not ideal for Haas to have another setback with the car this morning. The team has completed 160 laps so far in testing - less than half as many as Ferrari, who leads the mileage chart currently.

"On the Russia situation, it has been reported this morning that the Champions League final will be moved by UEFA to Paris from St Petersburg following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. F1 is yet to issue any further updates since the team boss meeting last night to discuss things. On the Haas front, Gunther Steiner will talk with the media in around an hour, so we should have more then."
Stopwatch
Latifi is up and running on the C4s and is already up to third on the overall times with a 1m20.699s for Williams.
Mechanical problem
Not good news for Haas who announce its car has a suspected leak, which the mechanics are looking into. Mazepin has only completed nine laps so far this morning.
There's been a driver change at Williams, Latifi is in the car now taking over from Albon. Given our earlier confusion of which driver was meant to be in the car first, Williams clearly want to keep us on our toes.
Stopwatch
Back on track and Verstappen goes quicker again on the C3s with a 1m19.765s - a full second faster than nearest rival Russell.
Breaking news

Albon: 2022 F1 cars require “finesse” when driven on limit

Here's the full story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/albon-2022-f1-cars-require-finesse-when-driven-on-limit/8482199/
Luke Smith
Luke Smith

"Good to see Zhou getting on with his programme in the Alfa after the team's stunted start to testing. He said yesterday that he felt he was driving at around "90%" already, but felt confident there was plenty more to come from both himself and the car. Lots of ground still to be made up for the team though..."

Zhou on the C2s is chipping away at his personal best lap times but remains ninth on the overall, focusing on mileage which Alfa Romeo is lacking after a slow start to the test due to various issues.
Stopwatch
Norris, timesheet-topper on Day 1, has joined the 1m20s gang to go third quickest for McLaren.
Another three-wide flyby, this time Zhou, Albon and Russell, who were definitely able to follow each other closely through the final sector.
Stopwatch
Russell makes another improvement with a 1m20.767s to move within one tenth of Verstappen. This is the first extended period of time both Red Bull and Mercedes have been at the top of the times in this test - it's as if nothing has changed.
Stopwatch
Russell makes an instant lap time improvement to move up to second with a 1m21.125s to go half a second off Verstappen's leading effort.
Quote

Alpine on Alonso's smoky stop:

"Fernando asked to stop the car on track after the car lost pressure in the final sector. It’s been recovered to the garage where we’ll investigate the issue further."

Russell heads out for Mercedes on the C3s to give Verstappen and Albon some company.
After that red flag and then a flurry of small improvements at the restart, the teams and lap times have settled back down to the long run programmes. Verstappen leads both the timesheet and lap count totals as he continues to circulate on the C3s.
Stopwatch
Meanwhile Verstappen has gone quicker again, this time a 1m20.683s, on the C3 tyres.
Photo

What's the Spanish for "this looks an expensive job"?

 

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Stopwatch
Verstappen goes quickest with a 1m21.192s just after Albon, Mazepin and Zhou went three-wide down the main straight. It is all happening now!
Photo

Live proof of Alonso's car on its way to the Alpine garage from Autosport F1 reporter Luke Smith. No deep-dive analysis on this one just yet, pretty hard to do with those huge covers.

 

Photo by: Luke Smith

Green flag
Off we go again as the Alpine is delivered back to the team garage.

Images are emerging of a very smoky Alpine just before Alonso pulled over on the track. The track action will resume at 10:05 local time - so in five minutes.

It is not clear yet what the exact cause of Alonso's stop is but he's out of the car which has come to a halt in the final sector.
It is Alonso in the Alpine that has triggered the red flag with all other cars already back in the pitlane.
Red flag
Red flag! We have our first stoppage of the day!

Into the thick of the long run action now, with Alonso in particular metronomic with a series of laps all in the high 1m22s to low 1m23s. Norris has popped up to second on the times with a 1m21.865s.

Stopwatch
Alonso is now fastest for Alpine with a 1m21.242s on the C3 tyres.
Stopwatch
Verstappen takes over from Leclerc at the top of the times with a 1m22.653s, as he begins his first extended run of the morning. Red Bull do have a bit of mileage to catch up on after Perez's unscheduled stop yesterday and the world champion is taking up the task.
Photo

Here's a first look at the revised Haas livery minus the Russia flag colours and Uralkali branding, which has also disappeared from the team garages and trucks.

 

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Stopwatch
Quick check on the opening lap times sees Leclerc lead the way with a 1m23.589s for Ferrari. Not much to read into that given a) it is early b) no teams are fully pushing performance yet c) Leclerc got into the 1m19s yesterday.

By: Haydn Cobb

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