Barcelona Testing 2 – Day 1: Grosjean and Lotus Back on Top
For their return to the track, Romain Grosjean and the Lotus F1 team set the fastest time on this first day of testing in Barcelona.
Lotus F1 left Barcelona in a hurry last week due to a problem discovered on chassis number 2. But the Enstone team quickly reacted, they were able to fix the problem and thus be ready for the last four days of pre-season testing.
Back on track, the Lotus F1 team showed to its advantage. Romain Grosjean clocked the fastest time of the day at the wheel of the E20 in the last 30 minutes of testing. He ultimately outpaced the McLaren driven by Jenson Button and the Sauber piloted by Sergio Perez.
The lap times did not evolve much in the afternoon. Indeed, the teams focused on long runs as the weather and track conditions were stable. Several drivers and teams thus covered more than 100 laps.
Perez, Webber, Rosberg, Vergne, Massa, and Petrov completed over 100 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya today, with a maximum of 128 laps for Nico Rosberg and his Mercedes F1 W03. Pastor Maldonado and Williams had clocked many laps in previous days, but today due to several small issues, the Venezuelan was only able to complete 58 laps – the lowest total of the day.
Note that Vitaly Petrov was at the wheel of the Caterham CT01 today to replace Heikki Kovalainen at short notice. The Finnish driver was supposed to drive today, but he had to give up his place to his Russian teammate because he suffered from food poisoning yesterday.
Barcelona Private Testing 2 – Day 1 Standings
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
1 | Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team | 1.23.252 | 73 | |
2 | Button | McLaren | 1.23.510 | +0.258 | 64 |
3 | Perez | Sauber | 1.23.820 | +0.568 | 118 |
4 | Webber | Red Bull | 1.23.830 | +0.578 | 102 |
5 | Rosberg | Mercedes | 1.23.992 | +0.740 | 128 |
6 | Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1.24.216 | +0.964 | 113 |
7 | di Resta | Force India | 1.24.305 | +1.053 | 98 |
8 | Massa | Ferrari | 1.24.318 | +1.066 | 105 |
9 | Petrov | Caterham F1 | 1.24.876 | +1.624 | 123 |
10 | Maldonado | Williams | 1.25.587 | +2.335 | 58 |