Barcelona Winter Testing – Day 6: Ricciardo and Red Bull Break the Track Record

It is once again under the sun that this sixth day of winter testing begins on the resurfaced track in Barcelona. Quite the opposite of the first week of testing, which was disrupted by snow and fog.

To make up for lost time, the teams have decided once again to skip the lunch break, preferring to hit the tarmac rather than take a bite! Today, the drivers who will face off on the track are Lewis Hamilton in the morning and Valtteri Bottas in the afternoon (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Lance Stroll in the morning and Sergey Sirotkin in the afternoon (Williams), Carlos Sainz in the morning and Nico Hülkenberg in the afternoon (Renault), Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso), Charles Leclerc (Sauber), Esteban Ocon (Force India), Romain Grosjean (Haas). It should be noted that Vettel will replace Kimi Räikkönen, scheduled for the day, in the morning, but the latter was unwell. The Finn will nevertheless return in the afternoon.

From the start of the day, one of the most diligent drivers is Fernando Alonso in his McLaren. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, persistent bad luck seems unwilling to leave him since his car breaks down late in the morning due to an oil leak. The native of Oviedo will wait a long time without driving while his mechanics change the Renault engine of his MCL33. With the problems encountered by Stoffel Vandoorne yesterday, the Woking team is having a hard time completing a day of running without incident. Although McLaren’s communication aims to be reassuring, concern still seems apparent on some faces.

It was a productive morning for Fernando Alonso, until this stoppage

47 laps on the board before an oil leak spoiled the fun 😫

Can they turn it around this afternoon?#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/FuJzfr7VjO

— Formula 1 (@F1) 7 mars 2018

The drivers are very diligent on track, with Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, and Carlos Sainz exceeding even 80 laps in the morning alone, which is dominated on the clock by the Australian’s Red Bull. With a time of 1:18.047, he even breaks the unofficial track record and achieves the best test time. The reigning world champion follows him but with Ultra Soft tires, one level below the Hyper Softs used by Ricciardo.

This best time will not be beaten in the afternoon despite the numerous attempts by other drivers. In the end, Ricciardo and Leclerc were the most present on track with 165 and 160 laps completed.

Apart from a few electronic issues on Hartley’s Toro Rosso and some practice starts conducted by a few drivers at the end of the session, nothing notable to report for this end of the day, which sees a Red Bull take the top of the timesheet, becoming the fastest car to run on this Barcelona track.

Now THAT’S a productive day 👀

Well over 1000 laps in total – here’s who set them and how quickly#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/oVYAiZhd8O

— Formula 1 (@F1) 7 mars 2018

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