Max fifth halfway the Wednesday session

Published on 20 February 2019 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen lapped Circuit de Barcelona 33 times on Wednesday morning in the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15. During the third morning session of the first week of off-season testing, the car spent quite some time in the pits as the team reverted to swap other aero dynamical parts. During the final half hour, the Dutchman was able to put in some more laps though, resulting in Max ultimately finishing in P5.

When the lights turn red for lunch, for the first time we see that there is not a Ferrari at the top of the leaderboard. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was the quickest this Wednesday morning. Behind the Finn we see Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari in P2.

Nico Hülkenberg plants his Renault in P3, ahead of Toro Rosso running Daniil Kvyat. Max’ Red Bull can be found in fifth, only due to the fact that the team has been testing different front wings. During the test they used the ‘aero racks’, to map the airflow. On the rear wing, the well-known ‘flow viz’ was used. Behind Red Bull, we see Haas F1’s Pietro Fittipaldi. The youngster, still without a Super Licence, briefly triggered a code red in the morning by halting trackside.

Carlos Sainz is forced to have a gear box change done on his McLaren during the session and also hits the gravel trap just before lunch. The Spaniard finishes in P7. Sergio Mendez comes home in his Racing Point in P8 followed by Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes as ninth fastest.

Pre-Season Test 1 - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - Wednesday 20 February 2019