Force India leads the way after day 3
Published on 24 February 2016 by Stefan Meens
After topping the timing sheets in the morning, Nico Hulkenberg consolidated the top spot in the afternoon to finish the third day of the first pre-season test as the quickest driver. The Force India driver improved on his earlier lap time clocking a 1:23.110 after bolting on the Pirelli super soft compound.
Romain Grosjean, now driving for the new Haas F1 team, finished the day in second, also setting his quickest lap on the super softs. Kimi Raikkonen completed the top three in his Ferrari, a tenth adrift of Grosjean. However the Finn set his time on the slower medium Pirellis.
With former World Champion Mika Hakkinen spectating, the teams kick off the second half of the day at 2pm local time. Once again it is Mercedes that is quickest out of the box. Lewis Hamilton is the first on track after taking over driving duties from Nico Rosberg, who drove the new Silver Arrow in the morning. The German squad backed up their driver switch stating: “because we’ve already done so many miles, we want to make sure our boys remain in top shape by letting them drive only half a day.”
Similar to the Tuesday afternoon, most teams are emphasising track time to gain data. It shows in the number of laps completed; four teams complete more than a 100 laps. Scuderia Toro Rosso is one of the teams. Carlos Sainz lapped the Circuit de Catalunya 161 times, more than any driver today.
Kimi Raikkonen had some catching up to do after technical issues limited the Finn to only four laps in the morning. The Ferrari team showed resilience by completing 74 laps in the second part of today’s test.
The McLaren pit crew experienced a bit of scare after Jenson Button lost all hydraulic pressure. The result was failing rear brakes and Button having to take evasive action to avoid running into his crew. In the end, no one got hurt and the pit lane opened after being closed for a short time.
The only red flag of the afternoon is caused by Kevin Magnussen. The Dane is forced to park his Renault on the main straight. Nevertheless, the team retrieve the car and were able to send the Dane out for another quick run near the end of the four hour session.
Pre-season test I, day 3 - Circuit de Catalunya - Wednesday 24 February 2016
AFTERNOON SESSION 1. Hülkenberg Force India VJM09 1:23.110 99 2. Grosjean Haas F1 VF-16 1:25.874 +2.764 82 3. Räikkönen Ferrari SF16-H 1:25.977 +2.867 78 4. Magnussen Renault RS16 1:26.014 +2.904 111 5. Rosberg Mercedes W07 1:26.084 +2.974 74 6. Sainz Toro Rosso STR11 1:26.239 +3.129 161 7. Nasr Sauber C34 1:26.392 +3.282 115 8. Hamilton Mercedes W07 1:26.421 +3.311 88 9. Kvyat Red Bull Racing RB12 1:26.497 +3.387 74 10. Massa Willliams FW38 1:26.712 +3.602 109 11. Button McLaren MP4-31 1:26.919 +3.809 51 12. Haryanto Manor F1 MRT05 1:28.249 +5.139 78
