Bottas by far the fastest on first day of testing Barcelona
Published on 15 May 2019 by Mike Motilall
Valtteri Bottas topped the leaderboard during the first day of in-season testing on Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. With a 1:15.511 the Finn was almost a second-and-a-half faster than his peers. The Mercedes-driver ran on Pirellis softest C5-rubbers to achieve that time. These tyres were not allowed to be used during the Spanish Grand Prix, but will be available for the race in Monaco.
Charles Leclerc came in second having been well behind of Bottas. The Ferrari-driver however, drove his time on the harder C2-compound tyres. Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg rounded up the top four. Pierre Gasly, who drove the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 today, managed to come in fifth fastest with 115 laps to his name.
Apart from the usual suspects, a great many test drivers got their opportunity. During the four days of in-season testing, it is mandatory for the teams to have a rookie driver at least two days in the car.
Haas-test driver Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, came in seventh fastest. Nick Yelloly, Racing Point’s simulator driver, got behind the wheels of a Formula 1-car for the first time again in over four years and finished in P8. Formula 2-championshipleader Nicolas Latifi was allowed to put the Williams FW42 through its paces, while his Formula 2-colleague Callum Ilott made his test début at Alfa Romeo. The young Briton crashed severely in the afternoon at Turn three, but he walked away unscathed. The car had been damaged in such a manner that Ilott didn’t head back out on track again.
On Wednesday in Barcelona, the second and final day of in-season testing will take place. Dan Ticktum will then take control of the car at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.
Result day one – in-season testing Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:15.511 131 2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.933 1.422 131 3 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:17.679 2.167 121 4 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:18.051 2.538 68 5 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1:18.140 2.626 118 6 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:18.263 2.748 64 7 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas 1:18.326 2.810 103 8 Nick Yelloly Racing Point 1:18.361 2.844 111 9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:18.485 2.967 133 10 Lando Norris McLaren 1:18.567 3.048 44 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:19.719 4.199 118 12 Callum Ilott Alfa Romeo 1:19.819 4.298 41 13 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:20.670 5.148 133
