Bottas and Mercedes conclude Barcelona tests in the lead

Valtteri Bottas signs the best mark of the second and final day of testing organized at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the wake of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Published on 16/05/2018 à 19:03

⁰ View comments)

Bottas and Mercedes conclude Barcelona tests in the lead

The Italian, who drove on Tuesday for Sauber where he plays the role of reserve, made his first official outing this Wednesday at the wheel of the Ferrari SF71H usually flown by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Shod on the Hyper-Soft rubbers which will be used for the first time in Monaco next weekend, Giovinazzi fails 68 thousandths of the benchmark of Bottas but the former GP2 Series vice-champion is the most diligent on the track with 148 laps completed.

Lando Norris completes the top three with a McLaren MCL33 equipped with Soft tires. The current leader of the championship F2 however encountered a “minor problem” when leaving the pits, according to the team, which forced it to immobilize its car on the route in the afternoon, after having already spun in the morning.

Three days after his beautiful Spanish Grand Prix finished in 6th place, Kevin Magnussen wins the 4th best time aboard the Haas VF-18. The Dane caused the second red flag of the afternoon due to a problem which limited him to 75 revolutions of the Catalan track.

Development driver at Force India, Nikita mazepin, who launched his GP3 Series career with a great victory last Saturday, finished 5th with the Hyper-Soft compound. The Russian is followed by Jack Aitken, reservist Renault and winner of the second F2 race of the Barcelona weekend. For his first time at the wheel of a single-seater F1, the British-Korean racked up 120 laps and achieved his best mark with the Medium tire.

Charles Leclerc ranks 7th for Sauber, ahead of Robert Kubica who took over from Oliver Rowland at Williams and had already driven last Friday during free practice for the Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly follows in 9th place after replacing Sean Gelael during the day at Toro Rosso. The Frenchman had time to complete 39 laps and was ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) who was conducting tests on behalf of Pirelli.

Surprise guest of the week with Red Bull, Jake Dennis, who usually plays in the team's simulator Milton Keynes, finished 11th 3,5 seconds behind the reference time. Followed by Gelael and Nicholas latifi, also serving Pirelli on the Force India this Wednesday.

The next F1 test session will take place after the Hungarian Grand Prix (July 31 – August 1).