Jerez: Räikkönen concludes in style

Kimi Räikkönen set the best time in testing in Jerez (Spain) with a lap completed in 1’20”841 on the Ferrari SF15-BILLION, beating by a tenth the performance achieved two days earlier by his teammate Sebastian Vettel. If this first test session does not reflect the true performance of the single-seaters, the tests carried out by the Maranello team still seem promising.

The Finn is more than a second ahead of the Sauber C34 of Marcus Ericsson and the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton. If the W06 Hybrid was still the most diligent, the first three drivers of the day all crossed the 100 lap mark.

Toro Rosso was very close to reaching this milestone with the 97 loops completed by Max Verstappen, author of the fourth time. The STR10 still saves furniture at home Red Bull, the RB11 of Daniil Kvyat having experienced ERS problems in the first part of the session. The Russian was able to ride more in the second part of the day but the performances of the car Anglo-Austrian remain discreet.

La Williams by Felipe Massa and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean finish with more than two seconds, the Frenchman's E23 having suffered from a problem with the Power Unit which shortened the day of the stableenstone. McLaren also had to pull the curtain prematurely following a fuel pressure problem, but the MP4-30 drove almost as much as during the first three days of testing.

The next test session will take place from February 19 to 22 in Barcelona (Spain). Force India is likely to miss this session as well.

Jerez test times. Day 4.

1. Kimi Raikkonen? Ferrari? 1’20”841 – 106 laps
2. Marcus Ericsson? Sauber + 1”178 – 112 laps
3. Lewis Hamilton? Mercedes + 1”331 – 117 laps
4. Max Verstappen? Toro Rosso + 1”712 – 97 laps
5. Felipe Massa? Williams + 2 »275 – 73 laps
6. Romain Grosjean? Lotus + 2”961 – 53 laps
7. Daniel Kvyat? Red Bull + 3”134 – 64 laps
8. Jenson Button? McLaren + 6”819 – 35 laps