It was McLaren’s Lando Norris who started the week of Formula One’s final pre-season test day one of four on top of the standings and pipping Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull by just six thousandths of a second before pulling off the track once again after a stoppage earlier in the day.

 

 

With two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso watching from the McLaren pits, Norris posted a 1:17.709 benchmark time before pulling off the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya for the second time after an earlier stoppage in the morning due to a hydraulics issue.

 

The Briton completed 80 laps and got through much of the Woking-based outfits programme as they continued to make more on-track preparations for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

 

“On the whole today was a good day, although we didn’t get to do quite as much running as we wanted,” explained Norris, reflecting on his day. “We’ve improved the car slightly since last week, especially on the longer runs, so we’re going in the right direction, which is positive. It’s important that we keep doing that.”

 

“Overall, I’m feeling more prepared. I now have one last session in the car on Thursday, to finalise everything before Australia.” Norris concluded.

 

 

Gasly was second quickest in his Honda-powered RB15 Red Bull after being edged out by the aforementioned Norris. The Frenchman clocked up 136 laps in mileage.

 

“We pushed a little more today, but really it’s all about understanding how the car works,” said Gasly as he commented on the day. “There were a lot of aero tests and a lot of items to evaluate for the Team today, and that’s good for me as it helps me get more comfortable with the car.”

 

“Lap after lap it’s getting better, but of course there’s still work to do. The pace was good, but we just have to focus on ourselves and work through the programme we’ve defined for each day,”

 

“So far it’s been positive; we’ve managed to get through our plan and we’ve gained a lot of mileage. The potential is there so we’ll just try to improve in the areas we can, keep our heads down and keep working.” Gasly concluded.

 

 

Lance Stroll completed the top three in his SportPesa Racing Point RP19, with the Canadian running an aerodynamic test programme in the morning whilst focusing on the cars rebalancing in the afternoon.

 

“It was our smoothest day of testing so far and we completed some valuable mileage,” said Stroll looking back on the day. “The car felt good so I think we are heading in the right direction.”

 

“These days are about building confidence and getting to grips with the new car, but also getting used to this new environment. I am getting on really well with the crew in the garage,”

 

“They’re great people and everyone is working so hard. We ran on a mix of different tyres today and tried a lot of test items. There’s a good atmosphere in the garage and I’m feeling pleased with the work we did today.” Stroll concluded.

 

 

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended the first day of Formula One’s second and final week of pre-season testing in fourth place as the German ran in the afternoon, clocking up 81 laps on the mileage chart and setting a 1:17.925 while working on different configurations and race scenarios.

 

“It was a busy afternoon, but it was good to make up for the laps lost in the morning,” explained Vettel at the end of the day. “We are still trying to understand the car, trying various set-ups.”

 

“This afternoon, we also had a first go with the supersoft compound, just to get some more information. The next couple of days will be important for us”. Vettel concluded.

 

 

Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the top five in his Alfa Romeo Racing C38. The Italian completed the same amount of laps as the number he bears on his car with the Hinwil-based squad focusing on setup work and tyre testing.

 

“We have concluded another constructive day and started the second week of testing on a positive note,” said Giovinazzi. “With another 99 laps down, I feel good in the car and am satisfied with the progress we are making.”

 

“We continue to learn about our strengths as a team with every day spent on track and are motivated to continue of this path. I look forward to being back in the car on Thursday.” Giovinazzi concluded.

 

 

Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon ended the day in sixth place in his Honda-powered STR14, racking up 103 laps and posting a 1:18.649.

 

“It wasn’t a bad day today, we started off a little slow after a couple of issues in the morning, but we quickly made up for the lost time and completed a lot of laps,” explained Albon. “We made a lot of progress in the afternoon session learning more about the car and how it performs in longer runs, so hopefully we can build on that momentum for tomorrow.”

 

“I’m still getting used to the car and there’s a few things I need to work on and improve, but I think it’s more a case of fine tuning. I’m still getting comfortable with the high-speed of the car and race management of when I can and can’t push, but that will come with the more laps I do,”

 

“We did a lot of runs to see what suits the car best and also help me prepare for my first race in a couple of weeks.” Albon concluded.

 

 

It was a troubled morning for Charles Leclerc as his running of the SF90 was hampered by cooling system checks, which left the Monegasque youngster stuck in the pit-lane for most of the early session. When returning to the track, Leclerc completed work on setup and tyre evaluation, doing 29 laps and posting a 1:18.651.

 

“This morning we did fewer laps than planned, but I’m sure we can make up for lost work in the coming days,” explained Leclerc. “Track conditions were slightly different today compared to the first test, so it took a moment to adapt to them”.

 

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen finished eighth on the time-sheets with the Dane clocking up a solid 131 laps in mileage and testing the various tyre compounds.

 

“It’s been a good day with lots of laps,” explained Magnussen looking back on his penultimate testing day. “I’m very happy to have had a problem free day, it’s been good just to run all day with no issues.”

 

“We needed to start the week off like that. It’s nice to get those laps in and see that the car is reliable. The car feels good and we managed to get some long runs in on different tires. Overall, it’s been a very positive day.” Magnussen concluded.

 

 

ROKiT Williams Racing enjoyed a productive outing with youngster George Russell at the wheel of the FW42 as the Briton reached 119 laps, more than the Grove outfit managed to over their two days in last week’s running. Russell finished in ninth and set a 1:19.662.

 

It was a good day,” said Russell. “Our plan was to get as many laps on the board, make sure we had no issues and that’s exactly what we did.”

 

“We have learnt so much about the car on lower fuel and higher fuel which gives us a good indication moving forward into the next few days. All in all, it was a huge relief to have a day like today and we completed our test plan as intended.” Russell concluded.

 

 

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten as the Aussie racked up 77 laps working on long runs and aerodynamic tests.

 

“It was good mileage for us today,” explained Ricciardo as he reflected on the day. “We pounded the laps in with longer runs and also completed some aero tests.”

 

“It’s good for me to sit in the car for a few hours to keep learning and building our knowledge on the car. Nico did a bunch of laps this morning and we achieved the most laps of any team today which is a positive,”

 

“I missed out on a bit last week in terms of lap count, so it was important today to put a lot on the board.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

 

Both Silver Arrows drivers followed next and it was Valtteri Bottas who finished in eleventh place on the time-sheets. It was a horror day for the Finn as an oil pressure problem forced him to be stuck in the garage for almost the entire afternoon with the Brackley squad opting to change the power-train. Bottas ran just seven laps and posting a 1:20.167.

 

“Unfortunately, after four days of flawless reliability last week, I spent most of the day waiting as we had an oil pressure issue on my first outlap and had to change the Power Unit,” said Bottas. “But I’m glad I still got to do a few laps, the team did a really good job to get the car out again; it was important to get a bit of a feel for the new aero package.”

 

“My running was obviously very limited, but it seems like we’ve made improvements. We need to review everything in more detail tonight and I’m looking forward to continuing our programme tomorrow morning.”

 

 

On the other side of the garage, it was Lewis Hamilton taking twelfth place with the reigning World Champion getting to trial the new bodywork in the morning session before team-mate Bottas tested it briefly in the afternoon. The Silver Arrows focused on setup work and understanding the new aerodynamic package. Hamilton racked up 83 laps on the mileage charts.

 

“It’s been a beautiful day here in Barcelona and it was great to see that even more fans turned out today,” explained Hamilton, “We got through our run programme and the car was feeling relatively good.”

 

“It was an improvement from last week which is a good step. The tyres are also working a better now that the track temperature is a bit higher. We have to continue to analyse everything and keep pushing.” Hamilton concluded.

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg brought up the rear in his R.S.19 racer with the German completing 80 laps on the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. Hulkenberg set a 1:20.348.

 

“We had a simple plan today where we ran a lot of laps and played around with the setup on longer based runs,” explained Hulkenberg reflecting on the first day and final week of testing. “We’re building an understanding on the characteristics and gathering a lot of positive data for the car.”

 

“It’s good to see how the car reacts to different things and to find certain preferences on days like this. The morning went well, the conditions were great, and I was pretty satisfied with how things progressed,”

 

“We have more things to put on the car and test over the next couple of days.” Hulkenberg concluded.

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Test 2, Day One Classification

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Test 2, Day Two Lineup

 

Formula One’s second pre-season test, day two is currently in full swing, here are the driver lineups for today:

 

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

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow SF90: Sebastian Vettel (Morning) / Charles Leclerc (Afternoon)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – Honda RB15: Max Verstappen

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

McLaren-Renault F1 Team MCL34: Carlos Sainz

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team VF-19: Romain Grosjean

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team RP19: Sergio Perez

Scuderia Toro Rosso – Honda STR14: Daniil Kvyat

Alfa Romeo Racing C38: Kimi Raikkonen

ROKiT Williams Racing FW42: Robert Kubica