The first chapter of the new era of F1 ended this afternoon in Barcelona with the end of the first session of the pre-season tests. The next will be in Bahrain (10-12 March) a Sakhir, where the first GP of the season will also take place on March 20. In the final session of the afternoon, the teams worked on the set-up, Alpine e Aston Martin they remained in the garage due to the morning troubles on their respective power units. But finally we also saw some qualifying simulations.
The ranking of the times was subjected to shocks only towards the end: the fastest was Lewis Hamilton (1’19’’138) con the softer tires in the Pirelli range (C5), he has displaced his teammate from the top, George Russell who had run with the same compounds in the morning. Third Sergio Perez ahead of Max Verstappen. Mercedes is finding the key to the problem, on speed and distance. Although it will bring a massive program of updates to Bahrain. And Red Bull is also including the RB18, an extreme single-seater with many miniaturized components in the name of a precise aerodynamic philosophy.
But for now, Ferrari seems to be playing better, for the number of laps covered and for the ability to adapt, today was not the day to shoot: sixth Leclerc. When it was Carlos Sainz’s turn (7th) to get in the car, the Spaniard concentrated on long-runs with a large number of laps and finished eighth. Ferrari also used new parts that made it possible to solve the “hopping” problems generated by the ground effect.
1. Hamilton, Mercedes, 1’19’’138. 2. Russell, Mercedes, 1’19’’233 3.Perez, Red Bull, 1’19”556 4. Verstappen, Red Bull, 1’19’’756 5. Vettel, Aston Martin, 1’19’’824 6. Leclerc, Ferrari, 1’19”831 7. Sainz, Ferrari, 1’20”072
Meanwhile, F1 canceled the Russian GP. They meet again Mercedes e Red Bull at the top of the time table: the best was George Russell, with the softest tires in the Pirelli range (C5) he lapped in 1’19 ” 233, keeping at a distance Max Verstappen. But the Dutchman had harder compounds (C3), the same as Leclerc, who finished fourth behind Sebastian Vettel in an Aston Martin. Even the German at the end of the morning shift had a problem with the power unit. Less work than expected was done due to the many stops: the longest was caused by the failure of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine engine. The French car developed a fire principle, which was immediately tamed by the security officers. The damage is counted, large, and such as to prevent the Spaniard (and his French colleague Esteban Ocon) from returning to the track. The team talked about the plumbing problem. The second red flag was triggered by the accident of Pierre Gasly who, hitting the barriers, smashed the right front suspension of the AlphaTauri. Finally, the third stop, the Chinese rookie Zhou exited at turn 10. Alfa is proving to be one of the most problematic cars at this stage and for an inexperienced driver it is even more difficult to settle in. The Shanghai rookie was again the protagonist in the final minutes, stopping again. Among others, Williams continues to impress, fifth time for Latifi ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren.
The third day of F1 testing in Barcelona began with a surprise, at least from a visual point of view. Following Thursday’s statement after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, (“We will present our VF-22 in a plain white livery, without the Uralkali branding, for the third and final day of testing”), Haas in fact, he removed the colors of the Russian flag from his car and also the name of the main sponsor. Mazepin, his Russian driver is still testing as expected.
It should be noted, as mentioned, that the Alpha Tauri AT03 in Gasly was forced to pit after an accident. Damage to the front wing and right front suspension, the one that ended up hitting the barriers.
Meanwhile the pilots of F1 they gave mostly positive reviews about the new generation of cars after the first few days of testing. F1 has in fact implemented important changes (including the return to ground effect) to try to allow the cars to run closer to each other and increase the number of overtaking on the track. Max Verstappen e Carlos Sainz were among the drivers who said the changes will apparently make it easier for cars to keep up with the opponent in front of you. The new cars, according to the two drivers, also showed great handling on high-speed corners compared to the old ones despite being noticeably heavier.
February 25, 2022 (change February 25, 2022 | 18:27)
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