Barcelona: Mercedes accumulates, McLaren fragile

As in Jerez at the beginning of the month, the team Mercedes accumulated the laps on the Catalan track in Barcelona. But if the W06 Hybrid by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton (replaced Thursday by Pascal Wehrlein) covered 445 laps. The Mercedes blocks as a whole also worked without any particular problems at Lotus or Williams (a breakdown at Force India this Sunday), Romain Grosjean, also signing the best cumulative performance in 1'24″067, even if we must remain cautious because Nico Rosberg on medium tires came within three tenths.

We can also emphasize the good overall performance of the engines Renault, since Red Bull completed 415 laps, without experiencing any major issues (while performing race simulations) and Toro Rosso 411. Drivers powered by the V6 turbo/hybrid at Losange regularly completed days with more than 100 laps.

In the Ferrari clan, the single-seaters of the Team proved to be reliable, which was not entirely the case at Sauber. Impeccable in Jerez, the C34 notably experienced a gearbox problem after Friday, which forced Marcus Ericsson to wait before hitting the track on Saturday. Felipe Nasr also had a more difficult day on Sunday.

At McLaren, the learning continues with the Power Unit V6 turbo / hybrid Honda. If Jenson Button had started testing vigorously on Thursday, a seal on the MGU-K slowed down his progress during the day. Fernando Alonso completed 59 laps on Friday without incident, before Button was hit again by the same problem on the MGU-K, despite having a new part installed. Fernando Alonso's accident today closed a very mixed page for Woking.

Laps covered by engine manufacturer: Mercedes 1516 (7056,9km), Ferrari 662 (3081,6km), Renault 828 (3854,3km), Honda 124 (577,2km)

Laps covered by team: Mercedes 445 (2071,4km), Red Bull 415 (1931,8km), Toro Rosso 411 (1913,2km), Williams 406 (1889,9km), Lotus 361 (1680,4km), Ferrari 344 ( 1601,3km), Sauber 318 (1480,2km), Force India 304 (1415,1km), McLaren 124 (577,2km)

Laps traveled per driver: Verstappen : 223, Kvyat: 214, Ricciardo : 201, Hamilton: 201, Rosberg: 197 Sainz : 188, Hag : 180, Bottas : 177, Maldonado: 173, Ericsson: 166, Räikkönen: 164, Wehrlein: 161, Pérez: 155, Nasr: 152, Massa: 143, Grosjean: 111, Wolff : 86, Alonso: 79, Palmer: 77,, Button: 45, Hulkenberg : 36

Ranking Day 4 Barcelona:

1. Romain Grosjean (Lotus): 1’24”067? 111 rounds
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes): 1’24”321 – 130
3. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull): 1’24”941 – 102
4. Felipe Nasr (Sauber): 1’24”956 – 73
5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams): 1’25”345? 128
6. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso): 1’25”604? 88
7. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari): 1’26”312 – 75
8. Nico Hülkenberg (Force India): 1’26”591 – 36
9. Fernando Alonso (McLaren): 1’27”956? 20

Ranking Day 3 Barcelona:

1. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus): 1’24″348? 104 rounds
2. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso): 1’24″739? 129
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): 1’26″076? 101
4. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber): 1’26″340 – 53
5. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari): 1’26″407 – 105
6. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull): 1’26″589 – 112
7. Felipe Massa (Williams): 1’26″912 – 55
8. Pascal Wehrlein (Force India): 1’27″333 – 81
9. Valtteri Bottas (Williams): 1’27″556 – 49
10. Jenson Button (McLaren): 1’29″151? 24

Ranking Day 2 Barcelona:

1. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull): 1’24”574? 142 rounds
2. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari): 1’24”584 – 90
3. Felipe Massa (Williams): 1’24”672 – 88
4. Sergio Pérez (Force India): 1’24”702 – 121
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): 1’24”923 – 89
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes): 1’25”556 – 66
7. Fernando Alonso (McLaren): 1’25”961 – 59
8. Jolyon Palmer (Lotus): 1’26”280 – 77
9. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber): 1’27”334 – 113
10. Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso): 1’28”945? 100

Ranking Day 1 Barcelona:

1. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus): 1’25″011? 69 rounds
2. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari): 1’25″167 – 74
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull): 1’25″547 – 59
4. Sergio Pérez (Force India): 1’26″636 – 34
5. Felipe Nasr (Sauber): 1’27″307 – 79
6. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso): 1’27″900 – 94
7. Jenson Button (McLaren): 1’28″182 – 21
8. Pascal Wehrlein (Force India): 1’28″329 – 32
9. Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes): 1’28″489 – 48
10. Susie Wolff (Williams): 1’28″906 – 86
11. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): 1’30″429? 11

Find the results of the Barcelona tests in issue 2000 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and on newsstands from Wednesday.