Ferrari set the quickest lap for the second time in four days as the principal pre-season test arrived at an end. Kimi Raikkonen was 0.897 seconds snappier than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton did not pursue Mercedes found an electrical issue with the car, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas was eighth-quickest. Williams were not able test in view of harm done to their car in a crash by new kid on the block Lance Stroll on Wednesday. A skeleton required repairing after the 18-year-old Canadian spun into the obstructions in his third off-track minute in two days. Williams said they “meant to be back on track” for the begin of the second and last test on Tuesday.
Mercedes were beset by dependability issues without precedent for what has been a generally great first test, with the team ceasing Bottas early when it found an abnormality in the PC information.
Englishman Jolyon Palmer proceeded what has been an empowering first test for Renault with the third quickest time.
The last day of the main test was proposed for teams to experiment with another scope of wet tires outlined by Pirelli after reactions a year ago.
“Lance was out on cold tyres, on an out-lap with a lot of fuel in the car, and the tyre stepped away from him,” Smedley said.
“He was an innocent victim of that happening and what should have been an innocuous sideways moment brought him around into the barrier and did some damage. That happens and we expect it to happen, there is no blame on his part.”
Drivers had requested changes to the “outrageous” tire, utilized as a part of the heaviest rain, since it was excessively inclined, making it impossible to aquaplaning.
Haas driver Romain Grosjean said there had been “a great deal of advance produced using a year ago” yet said the “middle of the road” tire “got decimated a bit too soon, so some work is to be finished”.
