Barcelona second F1 test day one
By: Geoff Creighton
Summary
Status: Stopped
Driver, Team, Time, Tyre
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m20.456s, S
Bottas, Mercedes, 1m20.924s, S
Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m19.900s, US
Vettel, Ferrari, 1m19.906s, S
Ocon, Force India, 1m21.347s, SS
Massa, Williams, 1m19.726s, SS
Vandoorne, McLaren, 1m22.537s, S
Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m21.743s, S
Magnussen, Haas, 1m21.676s, S
Hulkenberg, Renault, 1m21.589s, S
Palmer, Renault, 1m24.790s, S
Wehrlein, Sauber, 1m23.336s, S
Ericsson, Sauber, 1m23.630s, S
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m20.456s, S
Bottas, Mercedes, 1m20.924s, S
Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m19.900s, US
Vettel, Ferrari, 1m19.906s, S
Ocon, Force India, 1m21.347s, SS
Massa, Williams, 1m19.726s, SS
Vandoorne, McLaren, 1m22.537s, S
Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m21.743s, S
Magnussen, Haas, 1m21.676s, S
Hulkenberg, Renault, 1m21.589s, S
Palmer, Renault, 1m24.790s, S
Wehrlein, Sauber, 1m23.336s, S
Ericsson, Sauber, 1m23.630s, S
And, finally, there's this. From us to you. We'll see you tomorrow for the second day of the final test – which will kick off at 9am local time, that's 8am GMT. Hasta luego!
We'll leave you with two things. First of all, there's this from Lewis Hamilton...
Final lap count for the day, Massa and Vettel are joint kings:
1 Massa (168)
2 Ricciardo (89)
3 Vettel (168)
4 Hamilton (49)
5 Bottas (86)
6 Ocon (142)
7 Hulkenberg (58)
8 Magnussen (81)
9 Kvyat (83)
10 Vandoorne (80)
11 Wehrlein (47)
12 Ericsson (53)
13 Palmer (15)
1 Massa (168)
2 Ricciardo (89)
3 Vettel (168)
4 Hamilton (49)
5 Bottas (86)
6 Ocon (142)
7 Hulkenberg (58)
8 Magnussen (81)
9 Kvyat (83)
10 Vandoorne (80)
11 Wehrlein (47)
12 Ericsson (53)
13 Palmer (15)
We now have a full quota of red dots on the timing screen with the Renault recovered to the pitlane. And that will just about do it for us from Barcelona.
As that came right at the end of the day our first thought was that could be a fuel run from Hulkenberg. That's where teams deliberately run the cars out of fuel to help with calculations for when it's time to race.
However, when the same thing happened to Ferrari last week, the car was easily wheeled into the pitlane. That was from the start-finish line, whereas Hulkenberg's car is a bit further away – round by the final sequence of corners.
Inconclusive, then – but you have to say it's a suggestion of more trouble for a team that already lost a lot of time today to more technical problems.
However, when the same thing happened to Ferrari last week, the car was easily wheeled into the pitlane. That was from the start-finish line, whereas Hulkenberg's car is a bit further away – round by the final sequence of corners.
Inconclusive, then – but you have to say it's a suggestion of more trouble for a team that already lost a lot of time today to more technical problems.
So, Massa ends the day fastest for Williams – his morning benchmark, a 1m19.726s, stands the test of time.
Apologies for the delay there – another internet drop out. Everyone's made it back except Hulkenberg. The car's about to be craned away by a recovery vehicle.
Ultra-softs on Vandoorne's McLaren, but nothing noteworthy in terms of time. Ditto for Ricciardo on softs. That looks like it's that.
We've got Ricciardo heading out with just over three minutes remaining. Is he going to go for glory?
What of Vandoorne's afternoon? It's been a good salvage job in terms of mileage for McLaren-Honda, actually – a lot of medium-tyre running has moved it onto 76 laps and counting.
Still, that's half the Williams/Ferrari tally and Vandoorne's also 2.8s off the pace (although performance hasn't really been at the forefront of McLaren's mind).
Still, that's half the Williams/Ferrari tally and Vandoorne's also 2.8s off the pace (although performance hasn't really been at the forefront of McLaren's mind).
With Massa in the pits, Vettel is poised to steal the day's 'most laps completed' award (aka as 'most industrious driver') at the very end. He moves on to lap 164 – although Massa, on 163, is about to rejoin. Can Vettel last till the end? There are six minutes left.
A 1m22.3s makes Ricciardo the quickest on track at the moment, but he's 2.5s off improving so that is just more diligent Red Bull work. He's back in the pits now, anyway.
We've got Ricciardo, Vettel, Bottas, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Vandoorne and Ericsson all lapping in the final 10 minutes of this session. Any chance of a late flier?
Minor media centre internet drama there – apologies for the silence. What have you missed? Nothing of note. There's less than a quarter of an hour on the clock and no immediate sign of anything changing.
Massa has ended his mammoth run though. We reckon he completed some 50-odd laps.
Massa has ended his mammoth run though. We reckon he completed some 50-odd laps.
Bottas completes a lap packed with personal best sector times on a 1m20.924s. He stays fifth, but moves to 1.1s off Massa's super-soft best.
Ocon, Hulkenberg and Kvyat return to the track. Still Massa and Vandoorne plough on with medium tyres, Vettel on softs. Ricciardo's just pit, he was on super-softs again.
A little way into the final half an hour. Are we all settling into the final stages of a long run, or could we see some last-gasp performance efforts?
We've been following Massa's progress with interest, because it appears the Williams is on a race sim. That's the first one today – and there weren't many last week. That's a good sign for the Grove outfit.
Vettel's on a monster stint on these softs. His laptimes have fallen into the 1m24s, but it's no surprise – he's on his 15th lap. That's the longest we've seen on the yellow-marked Pirellis today.
After more than a dozen laps Bottas is back in the pits in his Mercedes. That was another decent run on soft tyres from the Finn, who started that run with his best time of the day.
Another improvement from Kvyat further down the timing screens, he's at the tail of a tight midfield group on a 1m21.743s now.
Honda's latest engine issue this morning has elevated the strain on its relationship with McLaren to "maximum", the team admits:
Ricciardo's super-soft stint has ended after about 10 laps. Laptimes started in the 1m25s and ended there too.
Bottas, meanwhile, is 10 laps into his run of softs. Vettel's also on the yellow-marked Pirellis.
Bottas, meanwhile, is 10 laps into his run of softs. Vettel's also on the yellow-marked Pirellis.
Vandoorne's getting in some laps on the medium tyre at the moment, but his pace isn't as impressive as Ocon, who has been relentlessly in the 1m26s when we've checked in on him over this long stint.
Further down the order in the less-similarly-liveried-than-most-years Toro Rosso, Ricciardo's former Red Bull team-mate Kvyat's improved to a 1m21.884s.
Ricciardo's on super-soft tyres. His first three laps – 1m25.0s, 1m24.7s, 1m24.6s So it's either a long run, or Red Bull are just doing some validation work.
Bottas set a personal best middle sector a moment ago but the overall lap wasn't quite good enough to improve. He's set a personal best in the opening sector this time round though...
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