Winter Testing Barcelona – Day 7: Vettel Smashes the Time!
Sebastian Vettel shattered the unofficial lap record at the Barcelona track, achieving the fastest time in these tests. Stoffel Vandoorne and McLaren were able to complete laps without any issues, unlike recent days. The most diligent on the track was Max Verstappen with his Red Bull.
Yesterday, it was Daniel Ricciardo who was the star of the day by breaking the unofficial track record in Barcelona on his Red Bull. Meanwhile, McLaren and Fernando Alonso were facing new technical problems.
Today, the track was open to Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Valtteri Bottas in the morning and Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon (Mercedes), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso), Robert Kubica in the morning and Lance Stroll in the afternoon (Williams), Sergio Pérez (Force India), Nico Hülkenberg in the morning and Carlos Sainz in the afternoon (Renault), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), and Marcus Ericsson (Sauber).
Right from the start, all the drivers are diligent on the track, and the 60-lap mark will be quickly surpassed by the end of the morning, except for Stoffel Vandoorne, who is once again stuck at his stand for over an hour. Sebastian Vettel impresses everyone by chaining the fastest laps and track records: 1.17.913, 1.17.644, 1.17.287, and finally 1.17.182 on Hyper Soft tires.
Sebastian Vettel obliterates the unofficial lap record with a 1:17.644! 😮
The Ferrari man is nearly a second clear of P2 on hypersofts#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/l4XvlG7HZS
— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 mars /f1/actualite/22544-essais-hivernaux-barcelone-jour-6-ricciardo-et-red-bull-battent-le-record-de-la-piste.html
Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes seems to be on a very different program as the Finn is running on Medium tires more than two seconds behind the German. On the other hand, Kevin Magnussen’s Haas is quite fast on Super Soft tires – a notch below Vettel’s – and secures an excellent second time just over a second behind the Ferrari.
The afternoon will be more focused on long runs and race simulations similar to what Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes do, even opting to use the hardest tires on their car, or Sebastian Vettel making long runs on Mediums. Only Pierre Gasly improved his Toro Rosso in the last hour by setting a third-fastest time on Hyper Soft tires.
A lot of laps were therefore completed by the drivers, and it was Max Verstappen and his Red Bull with 188 laps who spent the most time on track today. Few incidents were reported before the end of the day, except for a small off-track excursion by Marcus Ericsson who ended up planting his Alfa Romeo Sauber in the gravel.
Immense lap times, and close to THREE race distances for some runners 👀#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/JOnY9IuL6v
— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 mars /f1/actualite/22544-essais-hivernaux-barcelone-jour-6-ricciardo-et-red-bull-battent-le-record-de-la-piste.html
