The penultimate day of Formula 1’s pre-season test saw Charles Leclerc post a cracking 1:16.231 to put Scuderia Ferrari back on top of the time-sheets despite ending his session stopping his SF90 racer at turn nine.

 

 

Just before the team’s stopped for their lunch break, the young Monegasque driver belted in the benchmark and lapped just 0.058 seconds adrift of Lewis Hamilton’s 2018 pole time at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, using Pirelli’s softer C5 compound.

 

But with less than half an hour remaining, Leclerc parked his SF90 at turn nine due to an exhaust issue and ended up returning on a flat-bed truck bringing out the red flag.

 

Prior to the stoppage, Leclerc’s day consisted of setup work and long pace runs, which saw him clock up 138 laps.

 

“It didn’t look as though today would be easy, given that we had to make up for yesterday’s lost time, but we got it done and that was very positive, especially as this was my last day in the car before Australia,” explained Leclerc reflecting on his day. “I am very happy because we worked really well. It’s been an encouraging start to the season and I feel about ready. Now, I can’t wait to take part in my first real Grand Prix with Ferrari.”

 

Alexander Albon continued to wow the paddock with his Honda-powered Toro Rosso STR14 ending the day in second and 0.681 seconds off of Leclerc’s benchmark. Albon completed 118 laps showing the Japanese power-train’s impressive reliability whilst working on qualifying and race simulations.

 

“I’m quite happy with how winter testing went as I was able to do a lot of laps and maximize my time in the car,” said Albon looking back on his day. “It’s still early days and we won’t know until Melbourne what everyone else has been working on, but I think we can be satisfied with how everything turned out the past four days.”

 

“We managed to have another day cracking the 100-lap mark, so that’s a testament to the team’s hard work and the reliability from Honda. Coming into testing you always want to get the most mileage as possible and we’ve done that, so it’s been a lot of learning and getting comfortable with the car – something I wouldn’t have been able to do if we weren’t reliable,”

 

“Overall, we’re in a good position with the car and there’s been no nasty surprises. There’s still a few things we need to tick off tomorrow before we finish testing, but it’s been a successful pre-season test as we were able to trial many things to see what works well for us. It was a great job by the team to get a good baseline for the car so that we could build on it throughout the two weeks.” Albon concluded.

 

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris was third quickest in the McLaren as the Briton completed 84 laps in his final run before the upcoming season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Norris testing programme included running various fuel loads and tyre compounds. His afternoon was interrupted by an exhaust issue but the problem was sorted and the youngster managed to run race procedure simulations..

 

“The morning went well, and we made some small improvements from the last two days,” said Norris. “Many of the runs this morning were beneficial in helping us gain a better understanding of the car.”

 

“I tried out various configurations during short runs, which gave us more information on how the car reacts to different tyres and fuel loads. We followed that with some longer runs on harder tyres that helped us to improve the balance of the car. I’m more prepared for Australia than I was at the start of testing, especially for the longer runs. There’s definitely still a lot of work to do, but overall I feel comfortable with the baseline we have and the direction we want to push in,”

 

“I feel ready, and I’m going to spend the next two weeks working hard in the factory on everything I need to do to prepare our set-up for Melbourne.” Norris concluded.

 

 

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly was fourth with the young Frenchman racking up 65 laps in mileage before his afternoon was hampered after a heavy crash into the turn nine barriers bringing out the red flags.

 

“We looked a bit more at performance today and we learned a lot” explained Gasly. “We still have a lot of work to do but overall we’re pleased.”

 

“I’m feeling good with the car and the package in general – the chassis and engine are really good. In the afternoon, I made a mistake in Turn 9 and lost the car. It was a pretty big crash, but I’m fine, a little bit shaken, but generally OK. I’m feeling more sorry for the guys in the garage,”

 

“They have a long night ahead but the most important thing is that Max is back in the car tomorrow and we’ll focus on the positives. It’s not an ideal way to end the final test, but over the four days we managed to get lots of laps in and that was positive. We have good performance and we just need to understand how to maximise the package, so we bring the best car we can to Melbourne.” Gasly concluded.

 

 

Both Renault R.S.19 racers occupied the next two positions with Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top five. The Aussie completed 65 laps in the afternoon working on tyre evaluations and car balance.

 

“It was a good afternoon’s work,” said Ricciardo reflecting on his penultimate day of testing. “We went through the tyre compounds, which was the target today.”

 

“We are now working on finding the balance with a more performance-type run. We went through the programme as planned, so there’s now some more work to do to analyse the data,”

 

“I’m happy that the afternoon went smoothly. We will build from here.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

 

Ricciardo’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg wound up sixth after running the R.S.19 in the morning. The German racked up 73 laps working on shorter runs, soft tyre evaluations and finding the right balance.

 

“We had another smooth session in the car looking at shorter runs and finding the right balance in that area,” said Hulkenberg. “We’re working in a positive direction and it was good to give the softer compounds a go in decent morning conditions.”

 

“As ever with testing, there’s a lot of data to go through with the team to keep developing the car and ensure we’re best placed heading into race one.” Hulkenberg concluded.

 

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team’s Lance Stroll finished his last day of testing in seventh on the time-sheets with the young Canadian completing 103 laps in his Mercedes-powered RP19.

 

“It’s been another positive day in the car and a good way to finish my pre-season programme,” said Stroll looking at his last testing day before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. “We covered a lot of kilometres today – the most I’ve done on a single day all winter – and now I am really looking forward to going racing.”

 

“We are going to keep learning about our new car, both tomorrow on our last day with Sergio in the car and back at base, and we are going to bring the best possible package to Melbourne. It’s really tough to predict where we stand once we start racing: everyone is working on different programmes, but I start the season with a positive mindset.” Stroll concluded.

 

 

Antonio Giovinazzi ended his final test for Alfa Romeo Racing before Melbourne in eighth place with the Italian setting a 1:17.639 and racking up 71 laps in mileage.

 

There was no reflection from the Italian.

 

 

Romain Grosjean was ninth in the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team VF-19. The Frenchman’s start was hindered by an exhaust problem, which kept him in the garage until the final 45 minutes of the day where he ran 16 laps, using the Pirelli C3 compound and posting a 1:17.854.

 

“We had an issue that was discovered at lunch and it took a long time to fix,” explained Grosjean. “It wasn’t the afternoon I was after.”

 

“I’m now just focused on tomorrow morning and getting my last taste of the car before we head to Melbourne. Generally, we’ve made some great progress in testing. The car’s showing us the limits, and where we can work, the baseline is very good. We’re happy with that baseline and the car’s performance,”

 

“We haven’t focused too much on lap times at the moment. Melbourne will come and eventually we’ll put everything together for qualifying. Right now, we’re learning the VF-19, discovering a bit more, and it’s getting better and better. The feeling is good, as it was last year.” Grosjean concluded.

 

 

Reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top ten in his Silver Arrow as Mercedes continued to keep their ultimate performance under wraps. The Briton used his penultimate day gathering aerodynamic data and tyre evaluation racking up 85 laps whilst setting a 1:18.097 using Pirelli’s hard C2 tyre.

 

“Today has been a good day – lots of mileage, which is great for us,” said Hamilton. “It has probably been one of the most positive days for us, we’ve really learned quite a lot.”

 

“We’ve been able to apply our learnings from the morning to the afternoon, so I’m looking forward to seeing how Valtteri felt, but the car looked like it was in a better place. Our understanding of the W10 is continuously growing so it was definitely a positive day.” Hamilton concluded.

 

 

ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell ended his final day of testing in eleventh place undertaking various aerodynamic measurements as well as qualifying simulations on low fuel runs, running four different sets of tyres on low fuel and long race runs in the afternoon despite stoppages due to red flags. The FIA Formula 2 Champion racked up the most laps of anyone with 140 and set a 1:18.130.

 

I’m definitely very happy with the number of laps we have done, but at the end of the day it is all about the laptimes and we still have some time to find,” said Russell on his final day of running. “We have made a big step from when I jumped in the car on Tuesday, after Robert was in the car yesterday, and hopefully when he jumps in the car tomorrow we will find another step.”

 

“We understand the issues, we recognise that and are doing everything we can to rectify them. We have work to do but I am still very focused, motivated and I am very much looking forward to Australia.” Russell concluded.

 

 

Kevin Magnussen ran the black and gold VF-19 in the morning completing 53 laps with his best effort of a 1:18.199 on the C3 Pirelli compound. The Dane’s late morning was hampered by a brake-by-wire problem and remained in twelfth place on the time-sheets.

 

“We carried on with the program today and did what we needed to do,” said Magnussen. “I was happy to get more laps in obviously.”

 

“I’m still feeling good in the car and look forward to tomorrow’s final afternoon of track time. The team’s busy preparing for our last day testing, but we’re all really looking forward to going racing now.” Magnussen concluded.

 

 

Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear of the classifications in his Mercedes F1 W10 EQ Power+, with the Finn undertaking long runs and race simulations in the afternoon doing 96 laps and a best effort of a 1:18.862 running the Pirelli C2 hard tyre.

 

“We got a lot of laps in today which is always good,” explained Bottas reflecting on the penultimate day of testing. “I did a race simulation which was interrupted by the red flag, but it confirmed the progress we’ve made since last week.”

 

“We’re getting more and more prepared for Melbourne, but there’s room for improvement and still a few question marks on where we stand compared to the competition. We’re focusing on our performance; the entire team is pushing really hard and keeps improving the car and that’s all that matters,”

 

“We need to maximise the last day of testing as it will be our final chance to try out a few things ahead of Melbourne. Today was positive and I’m hoping for another good day tomorrow.” Bottas concluded.

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Test Two, Day Three Classification

 

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Test Two, Day Four Driver Lineups

 

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

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow SF90: Sebastian Vettel.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – Honda RB15: Max Verstappen.

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

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team VF-19: Romain Grosjean (Morning) / Kevin Magnussen (Afternoon).

McLaren-Renault F1 Team MCL34: Carlos Sainz.

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team RP19: Sergio Perez.

Alfa Romeo Racing C38: Kimi Raikkonen.

Scuderia Toro Rosso – Honda STR14: Daniil Kvyat.

ROKiT Williams Racing FW42: Robert Kubica.