F1 Pre-Season Testing 2019: Tuesday Times and Analysis from Barcelona

The second week of testing for the 2019 Formula One season got under way on Tuesday at the Circuit de Cataluyna in Barcelona, with Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi leading the way in the first session.  

Giovinazzi's mark of one minute, 18.589 seconds saw him edge ahead of Red Bull's Pierre Gasly in the early runs.

It was a frustrating morning for Ferrari, as they spent a significant chunk of the session assessing the cooling system on Charles Leclerc's car, meaning he was limited to just 29 laps. World champion Lewis Hamilton was able to register 83 laps in the first session on Tuesday, with his focus on distance over speed.

The drivers will be back on track later in the day. F1 writer Gianluca D'Alessandro provided the anticipated lineups from Barcelona.

Morning Recap

Here are the session results:

Having got through a huge number of laps in the first week of testing, Tuesday morning was frustrating for Ferrari and Leclerc. 

With just over an hour remaining in the session the Frenchman had only been able to get six laps completed, spending the majority of his time in the garage. With Sebastian Vettel in the cockpit in the afternoon, he would have been desperate to get out on track.

Ferrari were initially coy about the issues that were preventing Leclerc from returning to the car, before they eventually confirmed an problem with the cooling system was being assessed:

Leclerc would have at least been content with the fact he was able to show some pace when he did venture on the circuit, as he quickly moved up into second spot on the standings behind Gasly.

However, the Red Bull was to be knocked off the top by a surprise driver, with Giovinazzi making a late move into first place for Alfa Romeo.

Hamilton wasn't among the quickest drivers on Tuesday, but having put in an impressive 83 laps, he would have gathered some valuable data for his team. The Mercedes Twitter account appeared pleased with the world champion after he passed the 80-lap mark:

In terms of incidents, there was one red flag in the session when McLaren's Lando Norris ended up in the gravel.