F1 Pre-Season Testing 2020: Times and Wednesday Analysis from Barcelona
February 19, 2020
Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets on the first day of testing for the 2020 Formula One season in Barcelona on Wednesday
The Englishman posted a lap of one minute, 16.976 seconds, the fastest time across both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Mercedes locked out the top of the standings because only Hamilton was able to beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas' fastest time in the morning session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Sergio Perez of Racing Point finished the day in third with a 1:17.375 lap.
Here's a look at the standings:
In terms of laps completed, Red Bull's Max Verstappen had the most productive day with 168.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc could only finish in 11th after replacing Sebastian Vettel at the last minute after the German fell ill, as discussed by David Croft and Ted Kravitz on Sky Sports F1:
The testing offered a good look at the teams' new cars, including those of the likely championship contenders Mercedes and Ferrari:
Here's a look at some of the other new 2020 cars in action:
McLaren's Carlos Sainz was the first to top the timesheet before he was replaced at the summit by Perez over an hour into the morning's action.
F1's official Twitter account shared Perez's lap:
He responded with another quick lap after he was briefly unseated from P1 by Bottas, but the Mercedes man moved top again with an hour remaining in the session and stayed there.
Bottas, who set pole on this track at the Spanish Grand Prix last year, completed 79 laps during the morning session before Hamilton got 94 under his belt in the afternoon.