Barcelona 2 2020 review: Ferrari accumulates the kilometers

The second and final week of winter testing F1 2020 Barcelona ended this Friday without improvement in chronometric terms of the reference achieved last week by Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) in 1’15″732.

If the peak time, which remains to be put into perspective, was not beaten, the drivers nevertheless generally increased the tempo during the last three days, all finishing for the most part in the 1'16" or 1' 17” on the lap, except Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo).

It was again Valtteri Bottas who finished with the best time, established in 1'16"196 on the softest C5 tires, 73 thousandths ahead Max Verstappen (Red Bull) (on C4 tires) and 80 thousandths ahead Daniel Ricciardo (Renault). The best Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, appears in 4th position at 0″164 ahead Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) two tenths, just like Esteban Ocon (renault).

Times mostly set during the day's two sessions.

With a day less and the need to test the first potential developments, and the settings accordingly, the search for the time will not have been the priority compared to the long stints in sometimes tricky track conditions (wind, and even wet track Thursday morning).

Ferrari continues the laps

In terms of mileage, Ferrari has found some punch, since the SF1000 shared by Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, was the most diligent on the track with nearly 490 laps, compared to 353 last week. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc thus display the two best rotation totals on the track.

A good harvest for the Italians, while its two designated rivals did not experience the same scenario on the track. Mercedes is not in the first positions of this accumulation, weighed down by the engine problem Thursday on the Power Unit of Lewis Hamilton, author of only 14 laps. 407 loops and just under 1900 km are to be credited to the W11.

The Mercedes blocks suffered somewhat, since Williams also encountered problems with its German power units during these runs, the Grove team however coming out this week with a total very similar to Mercedes, largely thanks to the 158 laps completed on Thursday by Nicholas latifi and George Russell's 143 for the final day.

The other “poor performance” comes from Red Bull Racing, which is behind, with only 29 laps for Alex. Albon Wednesday (suspension problem), when Max Verstappen lost running time on Thursday in an outing in the gravel trap.

A session where due to the wind, the Milton Keynes team also revised their program, to carry out short relays. Results for the Red Bull: 306 laps, compared to 471 a week ago. But no worries in the Austro-British clan.

The sister stable Alpha Tauri saw its program disrupted by a problem with a poorly connected pipe on the AT01 entrusted to Pierre Gasly Wednesday morning, blocking the Frenchman at 25 rotations. But the 138 laps the next day more than made up for this initial deficit.

To Haas, the clutch of the VF20 braked Kevin Magnussen in its momentum today, without major consequences on the American training program. Alfa Romeo also ran less with almost 110 laps less, notably due to the exit of Antonio Giovinazzi yesterday.

All the information and the complete analysis of these tests, carried out by our special correspondents in Catalonia, can be found in AUTO issue 2257hebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version, and from next Wednesday on newsstands.

In the meantime, don't forget that our F1 2020 Guide is available in digital version and on newsstands.