Barcelona 1 assessment: For Renault the time, for Mercedes the endurance

The first week of winter testing in Barcelona ended this Thursday with generally productive testing in most teams, Williams except due to delay in the arrival of the FW42 in Catalonia.

The times fell at the same time as the teams switched to the red Pirelli C4 or C5 tires, the softest available to drivers and teams. It is finally Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) who set the absolute benchmark this Thursday in 1’17″393 (red C5 tires).

A time to compare with the 1’19”333 of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) after the first week 2018, disrupted by the weather, but especially with the 1’17″182 of Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) during the second week of 2018, with hyper-soft rubbers.

In the Mercedes-Ferrari fight, Mercedes waited until the last day to attack the time, Hamilton and Bottas getting closer to the first positions with the red tires. On the other hand, Ferrari did not use red tires to sign its references (just like Red Bull), a sign of a gain to be expected in week 2.

The teams have therefore already almost equaled last year's benchmark after just four days of testing, with favorable weather. Be careful, however, no information has filtered out on the settings used, nor on the quantities of gasoline on board. And the 2019 single-seaters have evolved in terms of aerodynamics compared to their predecessors and have gained mass.

Mercedes accumulates, Honda reassures

On the reliability side, the mileage totals demonstrate clear improvement in reliability, particularly at Honda (324 laps in 2018 compared to 957 in 2019, second total), which also powers Red Bull Racing this year.

The Mercedes engine clan is penalized by the low accumulations of Racing Point and especially Williams, while the Ferrari 064 Power Units have accumulated nearly 7 km, with the good consistency of the Ferrari SF000s (90 laps for Vettel on Monday), but above all of the Alfa Romeo C38 by Räikkönen and Giovinazzi.

Among the teams, Haas F1 Team or even Racing Point F1 have certainly experienced some mechanical avatars (electric for VF19), with a slightly disappointing total for Racing Point F1.

If Mercedes has accumulated the greatest number of laps and kilometers (610 laps for 2839 km), it is Williams that we must look for the team having encountered the most difficulties, linked to the late arrival of the car FW42. Grove's latest addition didn't hit the track until Wednesday, accumulating only around twenty laps for its first day.

Here is the results in figures for the past week, and more additional information will be found in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from this Monday evening. In the meantime, don't forget that our F1 2019 Guide is already available in digital version and on newsstands.

Best cumulative times per driver

Nico Hülkenberg (Renault) – 1’17″393 (C5)

Alex Albon (Toro Rosso) – 1’17″637 (C5)

Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) – 1’17″704 (C5)

Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) – 1’17″762 (C5)

Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) – 1’17″785 (C5)

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 1’17″857 (C5)

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1’17″977 (C4)

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1’18″046 (C3)

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) – 1’18″161 (C3)

Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1’18″431 (C4)

Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) – 1’18″511 (C3)

Carlos Sainz (McLaren) – 1’18″558 (C4)

Romain Grosjean (Haas) – 1’18″563 (C3)

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) – 1’18″720 (C3)

Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) – 1’18″780 (C3)

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1’18″787 (C3)

Pietro Fittipaldi (Haas) – 1’19″249 (C4)

Lance stroll (Racing Point) – 1’19″664 (C2)

Sergio Perez (Racing Point) – 1’19″944 (C3)

George Russell (Williams) – 1’20″997 (C3)

Robert Kubica (Williams) – 1’21″542 (C2)

Kilometers traveled:

PILES

Hamilton (Mercedes): 307 laps / 1429 km

Vettel (Ferrari): 303 laps / 1410 km

Bottas (Mercedes): 303 laps / 1410 km

Leclerc (Ferrari): 295 laps / 1373 km

Albon (Toro Rosso): 268 laps / 1247 km

Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo): 255 laps / 1187 km

Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo): 252 laps / 1173 km

Hülkenberg (Renault): 247 laps / 1149 km

Gasly (Red Bull): 238 laps / 1107 km

Verstappen (Red Bull): 237 laps / 1103 km

Norris (McLaren): 236 laps / 1098 km

Kvyat (Toro Rosso): 214 laps / 996 km

Sainz (McLaren): 209 laps / 972 km

Grosjean (Haas): 198 laps / 921 km

Ricciardo (Renault): 186 laps / 865 km

Stroll (Racing Point): 151 laps / 702 km

Magnussen (Haas): 125 laps / 581 km

Pérez (Racing Point): 97 laps / 451 km

Fittipaldi (Haas): 61 laps / 283 km

Kubica (Williams): 48 laps / 223 km

Russell (Williams): 40 laps / 186 km

TEAMS

Mercedes-AMG F1: 610 laps / 2839 km

Scuderia Ferrari: 598 laps / 2783 km

Alfa Romeo Racing: 507 laps / 2360 km

Scuderia Toro Rosso: 482 laps / 2243 km

Red Bull Racing: 475 laps / 2211 km

McLaren Racing: 445 laps / 2071 km

Renault F1 Team: 433 laps / 2015 km

Haas F1 Team: 384 laps / 1787 km

Racing Point F1: 248 laps / 1154 km

Williams Racing: 88 laps / 409 km

ENGINE ENGINEERS

Ferrari (Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Haas): 1489 laps / 6931 km

Honda (Red Bull, Toro Rosso): 957 laps / 4454 km

Mercedes (Mercedes, Racing Point, Williams): 946 laps / 4403 km

Renault (Renault, McLaren): 878 laps / 4087 km