Ferrari remains the fastest in Barcelona on first day of testing

Published on 22 February 2016 by Mike Motilall

With temperatures hitting the 21 degrees mark, this afternoon, the second part of the first day of winter testing, got underway. Although not many cars were present at one time on the circuit, there was constant action and a great many laps were driven. Fastest of the day was Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari, who didn’t improve on his time set in the morning. Lewis Hamilton also failed to improve his; the Brit, in his Mercedes, finished the day in second. Daniel Ricciardo did manage to improve his time and finished in the TAG Heuer powered Red Bull in third. Scuderia Toro Rosso had to end their testing prematurely due to a gearbox issue.

Hamilton gets off to a good start and clocks, in the first part of the afternoon session, 21 laps. When the flag drops, he is the most productive driver with an impressive 156 laps to his credit, more than two entire race distances. Demonstrating that there is nothing wrong with the reliability of the W07. Vettel is only seen on track; what happens in the pits, is anxiously kept hidden.

It is striking that there is a big gap between Red Bull and Renault: Ricciardo is a whopping 3,3 seconds faster than Jolyon Palmer. Despite the fact that the latter, due to different small issues with his RS16, is not able to cover as much mileage as he would have wanted to; TAG Heuer just dealt the first blow to Renault. Palmer finishes as last, with a 2,6 seconds deficit to the new team, Haas.

Alfonso Celis, Jenson Button and Pascal Wehrlein, all improve their time on the soft compound tyre, during the closing of the session. The first impresses by being half a second faster than the McLaren, they finish in fifth and sixth. Wehrlein is with the Ferrari-powered Manor ninth, 3,3 seconds slower than the ‘real’ Ferrari.

After 55 laps, Sainz steers his STR11 back to the pits and not long after we witness the Scuderia Toro Rosso garage door close. Meaning the end of today’s testing for the Faenza based team. As a precaution they decide to keep the car in for the remainder of the day. Reason for this is an issue with the gearbox’ oilsystem. The Spaniard finishes in seventh as he was not able to improve his time. Still, he is happy with how the day progressed. Immediately after the session he says: “We have worked so hard to get the car ready for today. As I headed out on track this morning at nine o'clock, I saw so many happy faces in the team. That I eventually was able to do only 55 laps, is a good result.”

Marcus Erisson, in the 2015 Sauber, is the second driver of the day with also a great many laps to his credit. The only thing that is lacking, is speed, compared to last year’s rivals; and they all have new cars at their disposal. The Swede finishes in eight.

Grosjean lost his front wing in the morning session, triggering the first red flag of the day. It takes a while before team Haas sends the VF-16 out on track again. He finishes the day in tenth.

The testing will continue tomorrow, Tuesday, at 9 o'clock. Max Verstappen will then get a piece of the action.

Pre-season test 1, day 1 - Circuit de Catalunya - Monday 22 February 2016

   Driver      Team              Chassis   Time 
 1 Vettel      Ferrari           SF16-H    1:24.939        69
 2 Hamilton    Mercedes          W07       1:25.409 +0.470 156
 3 Ricciardo   Red Bull Racing   RB12      1:26.044 +1.105 87
 4 Bottas      Willliams         FW38      1:26.091 +1.152 80
 5 Celis       Force India       VJM09     1:26.298 +1.359 58
 6 Button      McLaren           MP4-31    1:26.735 +1.796 84
 7 Sainz       Toro Rosso        STR11     1:27.180 +2.241 55
 8 Ericsson    Sauber            C34       1:27.555 +2.616 88
 9 Wehrlein    Manor F1          MRT05     1:28.292 +3.353 54
10 Grosjean    Haas F1           VF-16     1:28.399 +3.460 31
11 Palmer      Renault           RS16      1:29.356 +4.417 37