#F1 2020 Test 1, Day 2 Roundup: #Raikkonen quickest before bringing out red flag.

Kimi Raikkonen put his Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN C39 racer quickest on the time-sheets in day two of F1 2020 pre-season testing before bringing the first red flag out for the week.

 

 

BWT Racing Point F1 Team’s Sergio Perez lead the charts in the morning session, but Raikkonen who took over from Alfa Romeo Racing team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi and reserve Robert Kubica, ran the Pirelli P-Zero C4 fastest tyre compound to jump the Mexican with less than an hour remaining.

 

Raikkonen posted a 1:17.091 and completed 134 laps before bringing out the week’s first red flag after stopping out on track at turn nine with 15 minutes remaining.

 

“For my first testing day, it was an ok one,” explained Raikkonen reflecting on his first day of running. “The important thing is that everything seems to be working well, with no major issues. The immediate feeling is pretty positive, but it’s still early days. There is still a long way to go but I think we made a step forward compared to last year: who knows where this is going to take us, but so far so good.” Raikkonen concluded. Credit to Sauber Group for the quote.

 

 

The aforementioned Perez was the second fastest in the classifications after holding top spot in the morning run. The Racing Point driver wound up 0.256 off Raikkonen’s time.

 

Perez covered 145 laps and 674.975 kilometres in mileage, with the Silverstone-based squad showing promising performance and reliability, which has been it’s main focus during testing.

 

“Today we were able to complete a lot of kilometres – over 650 – which has been our first priority, given the limited amount of testing,” said Perez looking back on the day. “We still have plenty of things to work on over the coming days but we have shown that we’re on the right track with good pace and reliability. Hopefully tomorrow is another good day for the team with Lance in the car as our preparations for Australia continue. It’s still very early days – far too early – but I think it’s a solid base and I think we have something to work with for the coming races and for the start of the season.” Perez concluded. Credit to Racing Point for the quote.

 

 

Renault F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo was third quickest of the day, with the Australian setting a 1:17.749 and ended up 0.658 seconds off of Raikkonen’s time.

 

Ricciardo completed 41 laps and was forced to stop after clipping the turn nine kerb, suffering damage to his R.S.20 racer, which left the Anglo-French alliance work to do repairing the car.

 

Ricciardo’s team-mate Esteban Ocon had a fragmented afternoon as the Renault crew worked on the R.S.20, running a total of 52 laps and ended up 12th fastest.

 

“Today was okay for me, I felt good in the car and I’m pleased with the work we completed,” reflected Ricciardo. “We had a small delay in our running as there was some minor damage on the floor after I hit a kerb at the exit of turn nine and we had to check it over as a precaution,”

 

“We did complete enough running to provide some decent feedback for the team, so that’s a positive and a good base heading into tomorrow.” Ricciardo concluded. Credit to Renault F1 Team for the quote.

 

 

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon completed 134 laps and set a 1:17.912 to give the Thai-Briton driver fourth quickest of the day.

 

No Albon quote supplied by Red Bull Racing.

 

 

 

Pierre Gasly rounded out the top five in his Honda-powered Scuderia AlphaTauri AT01 racer, as the Frenchman worked on reliability, gathering aerodynamic data, testing new rakes, system checks and power-unit settings.

 

Gasly completed 147 laps and posted a 1:18.121.

 

“I was happy with today, I missed being behind the wheel a lot!” explained Gasly. “The target was to do as many laps as we could, because with pre-season testing two days shorter this year, we have to try to be more efficient and cover more things,”

 

“Overall, we can be pleased as we managed to complete the programme we set for the day and I felt comfortable in the car straight away. We tested a few more things compared to last year, also on my side in terms of driving, to understand how to get on top of everything, and there were some really positive results. There are many areas we are still exploring, we still need to figure certain areas out as it’s a new car with new parts. I think we found some good directions for the next few days, so now we have quite a lot to study.” Gasly concluded. Credit to AlphaTauri for the quote.

 

 

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finally got a taste of his new SF1000 in the afternoon session after being unwell to test on day one, which handed full day duties to team-mate Charles Leclerc.

 

Vettel continued working on from where Leclerc left off, working on suspension configuration, collecting more data and understanding more of the characteristics of the SF1000.

 

The German posted the sixth best time of the day, which was a 1:18.154, completing 73 laps and 340 kilometres in mileage.

 

“Finally I was able to drive the SF1000 after feeling unwell and having to spend most of yesterday in bed,” explained Vettel. “It was nice to be back behind the wheel and to start getting used to the car,”

 

“This first half day was definitely positive: we had no reliability problems and we were able to do 73 laps. That’s the most important thing when you’re dealing with a new car. The SF1000 is certainly a step forward compared to last year’s car. For tomorrow, the aim is to get as much track time as possible and to gather as much data as we can, to help us get a better understanding of where we are in our work programme.” Vettel concluded. Credit to Ferrari for the quote.

 

 

ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell was seventh quickest on the second day of pre-season testing as the Briton continued to work on tyre compound comparisons, gathering aerodynamic data and development.

 

Russell set a 1:18.266 and completed 116 laps in total.

 

“It was a productive day,” reflected Russell. “We have tested a lot of aero items to understand if everything correlates in the wind tunnel and CFD. We spent this morning doing a lot of rake running, which is beneficial for the short term and productive in the long run. We had an issue over lunch which delayed our running this afternoon. Although everything did not go to plan, it was still productive, and this is what winter testing is all about. We will keep pushing to get the most out of these six days of testing.” Russell concluded. Credit to Williams Racing for the quote.

 

 

The aforementioned Leclerc wound up eighth on the time-sheets as the Monegasque-youngster ran in the morning session.

 

Leclerc picked up from where he left off, working on suspension configuration, gathering data and understanding the SF1000, whilst also running the C2 and C3 compounds.

 

Leclerc ended the day with 49 laps, added onto the 132 he completed in day one, which totalled to 181 (three Spanish Grand Prix distances) for the round up of his first week in testing.

 

No Leclerc quote supplied from Ferrari.

 

 

World Champions Mercedes were the talk of the day after it was discovered that a movable steering device was spotted on an onboard view of Lewis Hamilton’s Silver Arrow.

 

The device is believed to adjust the toe angle and help benefit on circuits with long straights such as Baku, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps for example.

 

It caused a stir in the paddock and Mercedes Technical Director James Allison clarified that DAS (Dual Axis Steering) has been something they had been talking about with the FIA for quite sometime: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.new-das-steering-wheel-system-legal-and-safe-insist-mercedes.6pSo0iDVCZ0HBdcz2MvMPd.html

 

Hamilton finished the day in ninth on the time-sheets, posting a 1:18.387 and completing 106 laps in total as the Briton’s morning consisted of systems checks, aerodynamic validations, long runs and pit-stop practices.

 

“It’s been another beautiful day here in Barcelona and we got some great mileage on the new car today,” explained reigning World Champion Hamilton. “As a team, we completed a race run in the morning, which is great for reliability and shows the foundation we are starting on,”

 

“This is probably the first day ever, that I can remember, where I finished a test session and wanted to continue. We had 20 minutes left and I wanted us to maximise and do more laps, but we’d ran out of tyres. It felt good today and I felt physically fantastic. To get through a race run and still feel at the end of it that I could do another 100 laps is a good feeling.” Hamilton concluded. Credit to Mercedes for the quote.

 

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top ten, setting a 1:18.474, achieving 137 laps and 638 kilometres in mileage.

 

The Woking-based outfit’s day focused on aerodynamic measurements, looking at the MCL35’s aero flow conditions as well as reliability, long pace runs, mechanical and general setup work.

 

“A good day – we did 137 laps, completing almost everything we wanted to do,” reflected Norris on his day. “I got a good feeling for the car, and it’s not too different to last year in terms of handling, which is a good thing,”

 

“We got through our programme with a lot learned for both me and the team, making a good start ahead of tomorrow and next week. There are areas we know we need to improve on, but it’s been a productive day overall, which is the main thing.” Norris concluded. Credit to McLaren for the quote.

 

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean was 11th on the time-sheets in his day piloting the Ferrari-powered VF-20 as the Frenchman posted a 1:18.496 and completed 158 laps.

 

The Kannapolis/Banbury squad continued to focus on mileage, reliability and checking off testing items.

 

Grosjean’s day ended early after suffering contact into the turn five barriers, sustaining rear wing damage, meaning the VF-20 was retired in the garage for the final 40 minutes of the session.

 

“I saw how many laps we were planning to do this morning and I thought it was a pretty fruity run-plan,” explained Grosjean. “That’s a positive though, it shows that the car is reliable. With two days less testing this year over these two weeks we’re trying to do as much as we can. The early morning was tricky trying to get the tires warmed up, similarly at the end of the day when the sun goes down – tire temperatures drop. It was a positive day with a lot of testing. We’re now looking at our options for tomorrow to see what we want to test in the morning.” Grosjean concluded. Credit to Haas F1 Team for the quote.

 

 

The aforementioned Bottas finished at the rear of the time-sheets, posting a 1:19.307 and completing 77 laps after taking over from team-mate Hamilton for the afternoon run.

 

Bottas’ testing programme for the Silver Arrows was conducting system checks and race simulation before an electrical problem forced the Finn’s day short.

 

“We completed 77 laps this afternoon, which is a good number,” reflected Bottas on his afternoon in the F1 W11 EQ Power+. “But obviously running was cut short because of an issue, which made the day a bit trickier,”

 

“It was a good day of learning more about the car. We got some good mileage in and I almost completed a full race simulation. So, there was a lot of good experience gained from that and lots of data for us to investigate ahead of tomorrow. For me, personally, there are many learnings to take away from that race simulation and look into further. The car felt good and I’m looking forward to continuing the running tomorrow morning, hopefully we will have a clean day. Bottas concluded. Credit to Mercedes for the quote.

 

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F1 2020 Pre-Season Test 1, Day 2 Results Classification

 

 

You can see the full Formula 1 2020 Pre-Season Driver Lineups for week 1 at the following link: #F1 2020 Pre-Testing Driver Lineups – Week 1. @F1 @Circuitcat_eng

 

You can also catch up on all of the action in day two of pre-season testing at the following link: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.highlights-watch-all-the-on-track-action-from-day-2-of-pre-season-testing.3kfaMdTLKCJexoUTgslDLP.html

 

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#F1 2020 Test 1, Day 1 Roundup – @LewisHamilton leads @MercedesAMGF1 1-2.