F1 Pre-Season Testing 2019: Times and Thursday Analysis from Barcelona
February 21, 2019
Toro Rosso hit the top of the timesheets again during pre-season Formula One testing on Thursday morning as Alex Albon clocked the fastest time of the week so far.
The rookie produced a lap of one minute, 17.637 seconds at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the softest C5 tyres a day after team-mate Daniil Kvyat finished top of the pile.
As a result he headed the field during the morning's action, with Daniel Ricciardo of Renault second fastest thanks to a lap of one minute, 17.785.
World champion Lewis Hamilton finished the morning third after finally showing a glimpse of what the new Mercedes can do with a one minute, 17.977.
Here are the top times from the morning's action:
Mercedes had been relatively quiet in the opening three days of practice this week, leading BBC Sport's Andrew Benson to speculate whether the world champions were on the back foot.
However, Hamilton showed much more pace on Thursday to send a warning to rival teams:
The Briton was, most notably, quicker than Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.
Leclerc had a visit to the gravel during his 75 laps on Thursday morning but emerged unscathed. Lance Stroll also spun at the chicane at Turn 13 in his Racing Point car.
The only red flag came almost before the action had begun as McLaren's Lando Norris went off the track in the early morning cool:
Thursday morning was also notable for the appearance of Robert Kubica:
His return to F1 after eight years was delayed by Williams' "embarrassing" car issues earlier in the week, but the Polish driver finally made it out on track.