New pictures!
The evening has come and of course we have filled up our photo gallery again. Click through!
Stroll: “Interesting” first day of testing
The Canadian talks about his first kilometers of testing and explains that the new car felt “quite different in some areas”. But some things stayed the same. “It still has a lot of grip, a lot of downforce. That hasn’t changed,” says Stroll.
“Definitely”, on the other hand, “the behavior of the car and the philosophy” have changed. “It was very interesting, I learned a lot,” says Stroll. All in all, it was definitely “a lot of fun”. It was a “good” first day of testing for Aston Martin.
1,104 laps
In total, Formula 1 completed 1,104 laps today. This corresponds to 5161.2 kilometers. For comparison: in 2021 it was 5,574.4 kilometers on the first day of testing in Bahrain, so not that much more, although – unlike today – the cars were not completely new. And today’s cut was pretty much dragged down by Haas and Alfa Romeo.
Conclusion: Formula 1 seems to continue to be extremely reliable in 2022.
Vettel: In slow corners “like a truck”
The German gave his colleagues from ‘auto motor und sport’ an initial assessment of the new cars and explained: “In slow corners, the car is as sluggish as a truck. That’s due to the heavy weight. It’s really fun in the fast corners . We’re getting there so quickly.” That sounds promising! And P6 to kick off looks solid too.
And more importantly, unlike 2021, there were no major issues at Aston Martin this time!
lap table
With McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Aston Martin, AlphaTauri, Alpine and Williams, eight of the ten teams break the 100-lap mark. Impressive! Only Alfa Romeo and Haas fail (clearly) at this limit. Here is the overview:
Verstappen (147)
Alonso (127)
Tsunoda (121)
Norris (103)
Leclerc (80)
Russell (77)
Sainz (73)
Stroll (67)
Albert (66)
Latifi (66)
Vettel (52)
Hamilton (50)
Bottas (23)
Schumacher (23)
Maspin (20)
Kubica (9)
A complete overview of times and laps can be found here!
times
So that was it for the first day of testing. This is how the times look like at the end:
1. Norris (McLaren) – 1:19.568 (C4)
2. Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:20.165 (C3)
3. Sainz (Ferrari) – 1:20.416 (C3)
4. Russell (Mercedes) – 1:20.784 (C3)
5.Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:20.929 (C3)
6th Vettel (Aston Martin) – 1:21.276 (C3)
7. Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) – 1:21.638 (C3)
8. Alonso (Alpine) – 1:21.746 (C2)
9. Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1:22.246 (C2)
10. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) – 1:22.572 (C3)
11. Albon (Williams) – 1:22.760 (C3)
12. Schumacher (Haas) – 1:22.962 (C3)
13. Stroll (Aston Martin) – 1:23.327 (C2)
14. Latifi (Williams) – 1:23.379 (C3)
15. Masepin (Haas) – 1:24.505 (C2)
16. Kubica (Alfa Romeo) – 1:25.909 (C3)
Here in the ticker we continue with votes and further information from Barcelona!
Summary (Lesson 8/8)
– Best time of the day for Norris (1:19.5 on C4 tires)
– Red Bull shows the new car for the first time
– Sidepods the biggest eye-catcher on the RB18
– Verstappen the most diligent pilot
– Several teams break the 100 round mark
– No red flag, but…
– … several problems at Alfa Romeo
– Cooling leak and other concerns at Haas as well
Fringe info on Norris
You remember the incident in the pit lane? Apparently it was a small problem with the power unit, which switched to a safety mode. With the emphasis on “small”, because after that he was able to drive again very quickly. The McLaren is also nearing the end of almost 100 laps.
New best time!
Norris does it again and pushes the best time to 1:19.5. Behind them there are also isolated improvements in the final hour – also with Mick Schumacher. This is what it looks like a few minutes before the end:
1. Norris (McLaren) – 1:19.568 (C4)
2. Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:20.165 (C3)
3. Sainz (Ferrari) – 1:20.416 (C3)
4. Russell (Mercedes) – 1:20.784 (C3)
5.Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:20.929 (C3)
6th Vettel (Aston Martin) – 1:21.276 (C3)
7. Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) – 1:21.638 (C3)
8. Alonso (Alpine) – 1:21.746 (C2)
9. Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1:22.246 (C2)
10. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) – 1:22.572 (C3)
11. Albon (Williams) – 1:22.760 (C3)
12. Schumacher (Haas) – 1:23.009 (C3)
13. Stroll (Aston Martin) – 1:23.327 (C2)
14. Latifi (Williams) – 1:23.379 (C3)
15. Masepin (Haas) – 1:24.505 (C2)
16. Kubica (Alfa Romeo) – 1:25.909 (C3)
Speaking of Mike
There should actually be a larger media round for the print journalists this evening. But that was canceled on the grounds that he could hardly drive today. Understandable, he probably wouldn’t have been able to tell us much anyway. Another media round with him is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon anyway. Let’s hope that happens then!
Schumacher drives again
Can one speak of a happy ending at Haas after a messed up first day of testing? Probably only from damage limitation. Mick is definitely out and about again in the last half hour of the day. He won’t be able to learn much anymore. Better than nothing!
cooling slots
Well, do you notice something about the RB18? That’s right, it got cooling slots in the afternoon that weren’t there in the morning. Incidentally, Verstappen is still only in P8. That should then also answer the question of how relevant today’s times are. Because it is then rather unlikely that Red Bull is in midfield and behind AlphaTauri, among others…
© Motorsport Images
New best time!
Is this the beginning of a little hunt for times at the end of the day? Norris clocked a 1:19.9 on C4 tires, knocking the Ferraris out of the lead. The first 1:19 time of the new Formula 1 generation! Hamilton has also improved again, but he remains on P5 for the time being. Alonso has also moved past Albon to P10.
By the way, just before the end of the first day of testing, here are some driving pictures from Barcelona:
Haas update
And once again the US troops: They now report that, to make matters worse, the underbody was damaged in the afternoon. Schumacher is supposed to drive again today. But there isn’t much time left…
Worries at Haas
The US troops are at just 28 laps. Next to Alfa Romeo, Haas is certainly the biggest loser of the day today. Team boss Günther Steiner says at ‘auto motor und sport’: “In the morning we had a leak in the tank. The fuel pressure went up and down. Later a cooling line broke. It’s the little things that add up.”
One must now finally “get up and running”, says Steiner. But there won’t be enough time for that today, even if Schumacher can drive again right away. There’s a lot of catching up to do on Thursday and Friday.