Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a great first day of pre-season testing at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, topping the time-sheets in his Scuderia Ferrari SF90.

 

 

Vettel was both the quickest driver, posting a 1:18.161 before the lunch-break and completing the most laps on track with 169. The German however, took a minor spin coming out of the final chicane but did not hamper his day.

 

“The first impression from today is very good. I could not have hoped for a better day, as the car worked really well and we had no issues slowing us down,” explained Vettel. “We completed the programme just the way we wanted. Coming here I was pretty open minded and had no expectations and I didn’t need that much time to familiar with the car, as it was making everything quite straightforward for me,”

 

“I must say I am still a bit rusty, as I haven’t been driving for several months, but I’ll sleep well tonight”. “It is too early to sum it up, as it’s just the first day – Vettel added – but I would like to send my compliments to everyone back at the factory in Maranello for how they tackled all the new rules and what they put on track today and also how the team is handling the car in a well prepared way”. Vettel concluded.

 

 

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz sent shockwaves through the field as he ended the day in P2, just four tenths off of Vettel’s benchmark to start his new era with the Woking-based outfit on a high.

 

“It looks like our hard work has paid off today,” said a satisfied Sainz. “It’s been a very positive start as we’ve been able to run without big issues, play a bit with the set-up of the car and gather data to analyse. Good job everyone, because almost 120 laps on the first day is a good step,”

 

“There’s still a lot of margin to improve the car. Following today’s work, we know more clearly the direction we want to try. Now we have the information for a strong debrief, so we will keep working and moving forward.” Sainz concluded.

 

 

Romain Grosjean gave the beautiful black and gold Rich Energy Haas F1 Team VF-19 a great track debut by going third fastest.

 

“I think we can be happy enough with our day, in terms of the car’s feeling,” explained Grosjean. “We didn’t have a smooth run in the morning, but saying that, the afternoon went better. We had lost a fair bit of track time, but we recovered to put in some good runs,”

 

“The team’s done a good job again to produce a car that’s very nice to drive. There’s more work to do obviously, we need to understand the car, but at the minute I’m very happy with what we’ve got.” Grosjean concluded.

 

 

It was so far so good for Red Bull’s new partnership with Honda as Max Verstappen clocked up 128 laps and setting the fourth quickest time. The Dutchman was left with a good impression at the end of the first day.

 

“To do 128 laps on the first day of testing is a really good day, so I’m very happy with that,” said Verstappen. “We collected a lot of data, which is really important, and we’ll analyse everything tonight to see what we can improve on tomorrow when Pierre is in the car,”

 

“I’ll also go into detail tonight and tomorrow to see where I can improve for my second day. So far, so good and I’m happy that we were able to do so many laps. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.” Verstappen concluded.

 

 

Kimi Raikkonen ended the day fifth quickest in the Alfa Romeo Racing C38 clocking up the fourth amount of mileage with 114 laps and setting a 1:19.462. The Finn also suffered a minor hiccup, causing a red flag five minutes into the test after a spin into the gravel trap.

 

“It is very positive,” explained Raikkonen who said the C38 was a step up from last year’s car. “Straight out [we are] not doing an awful lot with the car. [We just] try to do things here or there,”

 

“It is very happy actually. The guys did a very good job over the winter and we have a package that we can work [with]. And we can get better. Everything feels normal and when I [compare it to what I] tried at the end of last year, the Sauber, it is a big step for sure.” Raikkonen concluded.

 

 

Daniil Kvyat took his Honda-powered Toro Rosso to sixth quickest for the Faenza-based squad and completed a total of 77 laps with the Russian feeling positive after his first run.

 

“It was a productive day today and it’s good to be back behind the wheel,” said Kvyat. “We managed to do quite a few laps, which is important on the first day of testing to get some mileage under your belt so you can see how the car behaves. It’s too early to draw conclusions, but I think we have a good baseline for now and we need to keep working on that,”

 

“Every time we were on track it was smooth running, and everyone was operating at a high level. I have another three days in the car which gives us the chance to improve on the things we worked on today, so we will look over the data to see which direction we will take on Wednesday. I worked with my new engineers and we all understood each other well straight away. It was certainly a good start.” Kvyat concluded.

 

 

Sergio Perez wound up seventh fastest in SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team’s RP19 and completing just 30 laps. The Mexican was content with how the car felt.

 

“It was a typical first day of testing, with a lot of checks and not a lot of running,” explained Perez. “It was effectively our shakedown and, even though the day was a bit shorter than expected, I felt quite happy with the car straight away,”

 

“The mileage wasn’t great but I think it was still a promising start. I am happy with the performance we managed to get out of the car and with its balance. The conditions weren’t great: the track was quite cold and green to begin with, but I end the first day feeling positive. It was important to start understanding the car as much as we could and for me to make myself comfortable with it as a driver.” Perez concluded.

 

 

Valtteri Bottas began in the morning for the Silver Arrows, focusing on aerodynamic and tyre idea and ended the day eight on the time-sheets.

 

“I quite enjoyed this morning, it’s good to be back at the track,” said Bottas. “I did 69 laps and there were no major issues with the car, so it was a relatively successful run. Since the car is brand new, we immediately found ways to improve the balance and the behaviour and we will continue to work on that in the next days,”

 

“It’s good to see the car running well and it proves that the entire team is doing a great job, both in Brackley and Brixworth, but also here at the track. I’m looking forward to a more time in the car tomorrow afternoon.” Bottas concluded.

 

 

It was Lewis Hamilton’s turn in the afternoon for Mercedes with the reigning World Champion collecting information on car reactions to different setup changes as the Briton clocked up 81 laps in the W10.

 

“It’s good to be back in the car and it’s great to see the car is running as smoothly at it is,” explained Hamilton. “It feels quite a bit different compared to last year and we’re now getting to know it, trying to understand the balance and trying to understand the characteristics we’re working with,”

 

“It’s been a positive first day, we got through our running plan and there’s lots for us to learn about the new car which we will be working on.” Hamilton concluded.

 

 

Nico Hulkenberg ended the day ninth quickest in his Renault. The German ran the R.S.19 challenger in the morning, focusing on reliability and long runs.

 

“It was fun and very enjoyable to be back driving a Formula 1 car,” explained Hulkenberg. “You forget how fast these cars are, especially Turns 3 and 9 around here, so it’s great to be back driving again. My first impressions are promising, we didn’t have too many problems this morning and that meant we were able to get a decent amount of laps in,”

 

“We were looking to start on the right foot today so it’s good to get 65 laps on the board and ease ourselves back in. We have things to assess and I’m looking forward to continuing the work over the next couple of days.” Hulkenberg concluded.

 

 

It was Aussie Daniel Ricciardo’s turn in the afternoon of the Renault R.S.19 racer. Ricciardo completed 44 laps and posting a 1:20.983.

 

“It’s a good feeling to be behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car again after a long winter waiting,” said Ricciardo. “Today was about bedding ourselves back into it and, for me, continuing to learn about a new car and a new team,”

 

“It was a decent afternoon and it’s important we keep increasing our mileage. We have plenty to analyse but it’s been a promising first official day. I’m excited to hit the track again and develop this new relationship.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

 

ROKiT Williams Racing have suffered a setback and will not be running until Wednesday (tomorrow). Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams said: “It is looking more likely than not that we will now not be in a position to run on track until Wednesday at the earliest. This is obviously extremely disappointing, but it is unfortunately the situation we are in. We will be getting the FW42 on track as soon as we are able.”

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Day 1 Classification -Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya

 

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Day Two Lineup

 

Day Two of Pre-Season Testing is currently underway and here are the drivers that will take to the track:

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10 EQ Power+ – Lewis Hamilton (Morning) / Valtteri Bottas (Afternoon)

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow SF90 – Charles Leclerc

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 – Pierre Gasly

Renault F1 Team R.S.19 – Daniel Ricciardo (Morning) / Nico Hulkenberg (Afternoon)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team VF-19 – Kevin Magnussen

McLaren-Renault F1 Team MCL34 – Lando Norris

Racing Point F1 Team RP19 – Lance Stroll

Alfa Romeo Racing C38 – Antonio Giovinazzi

Scuderia Toro Rosso SF14 – Alexander Albon