Räikkönen dominates Thursday's runs in Barcelona

The Finn from Alfa Romeo appeared in the last hour to take the best mark of the 2nd day of winter testing.

Published on 20/02/2020 à 18:11

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Räikkönen dominates Thursday runs in Barcelona

Kimi Räikkönen will have done everything this Thursday on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The first driver to set a time with the softest Pirelli C5 tire in the Italian range, the Finn took the opportunity to move to the top of the timesheet at the end of the second day of winter testing in Barcelona.

The 2007 world champion was also the first driver to raise a red flag this week when he stopped his Alfa C39 on the track at the start of turn 9.

Räikkönen was probably looking to check the calibration of the fuel tank of his new car by intentionally breaking down, a common tactic at the end of a session during the offseason.

The Espoo native took over at the top of the standings from Mexican Sergio Pérez, who dominated the proceedings mid-session aboard his Racing Point RP20. The leading trio is completed by the Renault de Daniel Ricciardo, who had slightly damaged the flat bottom of the RS20 in the morning by biting too much on the curb at the top of turn 9.

For his first day of work behind the wheel of the Honda-powered Red Bull RB16, Alexander albon files the 4th trademark, ahead of its predecessor at Milton Keynes, Pierre Gasly. At the very start of the day, the FrenchAlpha Tauri had a little scare when he spun off with cold tires.

After having to forfeit Wednesday due to health concerns, Sebastian Vettel finally hit the trail this Thursday. The German finished 6th, ahead of George Russell (Williams), and his teammate Ferrari, Charles Leclerc.

The best representative Mercedes only ranks 9th with Lewis Hamilton, author of 106 laps in the morning. The six-time world champion especially attracted attention by showing the new in-house steering system, called DDA for “Two Axis Direction”, which has already caused a lot of ink to flow.

Lando Norris completes the Top 10 for his official debut behind the wheel of the new McLaren MCL35 with Renault engine. The British precedes Romain Grosjean, who also rode for the first time this offseason. The French of Haas suffered a small scare at the end of the session when he spun and damaged the rear wing of the new VF-20.

Grosjean spins at Turn 4 and bumps the barriers#F1Testing pic.twitter.com/QQfsELDM89

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 20, 2020

After taking over from Ricciardo mid-session, Esteban Ocon concludes his afternoon of efforts in 12th position, while Valtteri Bottas brings up the rear for Mercedes. The Finn had to shorten his session due to an electrical problem which did not prevent the Brackley team from completing 183 laps on the day alone. Thursday.

Tomorrow, continuation and end of the first week of winter testing in Catalonia with the track opening at the usual time of 09:00 a.m. The tests will always be followed live with our live text.