Formula 1 Pre-Season Testing 2016: Times and Wednesday Analysis from Barcelona
Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets in his Williams ahead of world champion Lewis Hamilton on Day 2 of the final round of pre-season testing in Barcelona, Spain.
Hamilton used the soft tyres for the first time on Wednesday, but he was significantly slower than his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg was on the same compound a day earlier.
The Englishman was the quickest car in Day 2's morning session in Jerez, posting a time of one minute, 23.622 seconds, but he was six-tenths slower than his rival, with Rosberg lapping in 1:23.022 on Tuesday morning. The Brit did manage to get 73 laps done, though.
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Only Bottas was able to eclipse Hamilton's time in the afternoon, as he posted a 1:23.261 on the supersoft tyres.
Meanwhile, Mercedes again decided to share their running, and Rosberg took over from his team-mate in the W07 for the afternoon, getting in a significant number of laps and finishing ninth fastest.
Afternoon Recap
Formula One's official Twitter account provided the final standings from Wednesday's action:
It was a good day for Williams as they began to show the pace of their new car, and Bottas got in a decent amount of running on the soft and supersoft tyres.
As was their strategy on Tuesday, Mercedes opted for long-running in the afternoon session, and Rosberg completed a full race simulation, hence he did not trouble the top of the timesheets.
The same was true for Renault's Kevin Magnussen, who was the closest to Hamilton in the morning's action before he got some laps under his belt in the afternoon:
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished fourth after setting his fastest time in the morning, managing to complete 151 laps after a decent run in the afternoon.
However, there was no such luck for Haas, as Esteban Gutierrez failed to record a single timed lap because of an issue with the turbo charger.
An hour before the end of the day's action, the red flag came out when the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson ended up in the gravel, per the circuit's Twitter feed:
There was encouragement again for McLaren after Fernando Alonso's decent showing on Tuesday, with Jenson Button finishing Wednesday's action fifth fastest.
After their torrid season last year, the British team could perhaps return to being more competitive in 2016.
Morning Recap
Here are the key details from the morning running in Barcelona, which saw Hamilton comfortably quickest in the Mercedes W07:
After managing on the medium compound on Tuesday afternoon, the world champion would have been desperate to get his go on the quicker tyres on Wednesday, with Mercedes seemingly pushing their new vehicle closer and closer to its maximum.
But Hamilton wasn’t able to find a groove comparable to that of his team-mate, and while he set a pace the rest of the garage would envy, he was more than half-a-second back on Rosberg on the same tyres.
As noted by Autosport live, things didn’t click immediately for the Mercedes man on the softs:
Still, Hamilton felt positive about his outing and was quick to dismiss any thoughts that this season was going to be as comfortable as the previous two for the team, per Sky Sports:
"I got my laps in and I’ve got an understanding where the car is good and where the car isn’t good. But generally testing has been great.
I haven’t looked at where everybody else but everyone is naturally going to hype us up. But we don’t know what fuel load Ferrari are on and they have a strong package. Even Williams look like they have quite a strong package. So l wouldn’t take any notice of what they are saying, to be honest.
"
Elsewhere, Magnussen continued to impress for Renault in testing, suggesting he’s going to be a shrewd acquisition for them this season. Granted, he did put on the supersoft tyres for a stint on Wednesday, and that saw him post a time of 1:23.933, which was just over three-tenths short of Hamilton.
The Dane got 56 laps in too, and as we can see here courtesy of a happy Renault camp, he was top of the overall standings for a spell before being usurped by the Brit:
Ferrari were third, with Vettel utilising the medium compound in the morning. The German set the team’s quickest time of winter testing on this type of tyre, but they are still three-tenths of a second back on Mercedes’ own personal best on the mediums.
Vettel was able to get 63 laps in, though, and will be hoping to be handed a chance to post some quicker times in the afternoon on a faster tyre. As noted by F1 editor Jon Noble, the four-time world champion had to make do with a different engine on Wednesday:
McLaren were looking pretty good in the morning as well, with the fastest time from Jenson Button just one-and-a-half seconds back on Mercedes, although encouragingly for the toiling team, they were both on the same tyres.
The team’s Twitter feed did reveal a problem, though, which curtailed Button’s session—in which he was fifth in the standings after 45 laps—a little prematurely:
Williams were typically consistent in the morning with Valtteri Bottas posting the fourth fastest time, although it was a morning to forget for both Sauber and Haas, who both had reliability issues to contend with.
Marcus Ericsson was only able to get seven laps in before the interval in his Sauber, while Haas man Esteban Gutierrez could only manage one, with the team still seeking to recover from a fuel-pump problem that hindered them on Tuesday.
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