Ricciardo sets unofficial lap record to finish three tenths ahead of Hamilton; McLaren suffer fourth breakdown in two days; Nine of 10 teams post best times of testing. Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull laid down a marker for F1 2018 by posting the fastest time of pre-season testing on Day Two of the final test. Ricciardo posted a best time of 1:18.047 on the hypersoft tyres to beat the previous benchmark for winter testing by nearly a second and set an unofficial track record for the Circuit de Catalunya. The Australian finished 0.353s ahead of reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, with Valtteri Bottas a further tenth back – both Mercedes drivers setting their best times on the ultrasoft tyres.
“I think if Mercedes put the hypersofts on they will be a couple of tenths ahead,” Ricciardo said. Ricciardo also completed the most individual laps of the day with 165, amounting to more than double a Spanish GP race distance. Day One pacesetters Ferrari were solid if not spectacular, with Sebastian Vettel fourth after a best lap of 1:19.541 and Kimi Raikkonen ninth with a 1:20.242. But Ferrari opted against using Pirelli’s quickest tyres, with Vettel setting his new personal best for winter testing on soft tyres. “This is the day testing got serious,” declared Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz as the prospects of a three-way fight in F1 2018 increased.
“There are three quick teams and there’s no doubt that Red Bull are going to be one of the teams we’re going to be fighting with this year,” Mercedes technical director James Allison told Sky Sports after seeing Ricciardo go fastest. With Wednesday bringing the best weather conditions of testing so far, nine of the 10 teams posted their quickest times of the winter. The exception was McLaren who suffered their fourth breakdown in two days and were limited to just 57 laps. Fernando Alonso had impressed early on, posting a winter personal best of 1:19.856 on hypersofts, but he stopped at Turn Seven after just two hours of running.
A “small” oil leak was identified as the cause but it required McLaren to change their new Renault power unit and it was not until the final 13 minutes that the Spaniard was able to return to the track. However, McLaren chiefs played down suggestions they are approaching another winter crisis with executive director Zak Brown insisting their problems have been minor “teething” issues. “All the stuff that we’ve had have been pretty minor which get worked out at testing,” he told Sky Sports News. “We know what the issues are, they are all easily fixed. Of course, you would like to do more laps but we don’t think we have any problems so we are not concerned.”
