Third day of F1 testing: More problems, Mercedes fastest

Red Bull Racing divided the tasks in Barcelona today. Max Verstappen took care of the morning session, Sergio Perez was allowed to get behind the wheel of the RB18 in the afternoon. The Dutchman set the second time in the morning and was satisfied with his last test session in Spain, despite the fact that the race management had to wave the red flag five times. This was partly due to engine problems at Alpine and Aston Martin, a crash by Pierre Gasly and two spins by Alfa Romeo newcomer Guanyu Zhou.

Verstappen is positive about his RB18 after the first days of testing, he says on his own website Verstappen.com† “There were quite a few red flags, so we couldn’t finish our entire program. But everything worked as it should and the car felt good. We continued on my first day. It was important to check everything, here in Barcelona,” said the Dutchman. However, according to him, that does not give any guarantees for the start of the season. “It is positive that the car is working well and I am happy with the balance. However, it will be different for the test days in Bahrain and by the time we get to the first race the cars will be different again. We have focused on doing a lot of laps and looking at every aspect of the car.”

During lunch the track was wetted for the wet tire test. That caused the necessary change, but after 90 minutes the track had dried up again and the drivers were able to do their laps on slicks again. The afternoon session continued peacefully. In the end Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on the board with 1:19.138. His teammate George Russell was the fastest man on track in the morning with a time of 1:19.233. Sergio Perez beat Verstappen’s time in the afternoon. With 68 laps he also made slightly more kilometers than the Dutchman, who completed 59 laps today. However, Hamilton was the winner of the day by distance with 89 laps, followed by Williams driver Alexander Albon with 88 laps and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz with 86 laps.

Today’s lap times and number of laps per driver:

1. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1.19.138 (89 laps)
2. George Russell – Mercedes – 1,19,233 (66)
3. Sergio Perez – Red Bull – 1.19,556 (68)
4. Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 1,19,756 (59)
5. Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin – 1,19,824 (48)
6. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari – 1,19,831 (44)
7. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari – 1,20,072 (86)
8. Alexander Albon – Williams – 1.20,318 (88)
9. Nicholas Latifi – Williams – 1,20,699 (13)
10. Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren – 1,20,750 (80)
11. Lando Norris – McLaren – 1,20.827 (52)
12. Fernando Alonso – Alpine – 1.21.242 (12)
13. Guanyu Zhou – Alfa Romeo – 1.21.939 (41)
14. Pierre Gasly – Alpha Tauri – 1.22.469 (40)
15. Nikita Mazepin – Hare – 1,26,229 (9)
16. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo – 1.30.433 (10)