Private Tests – Austria – Day 1: Pascal Wehrlein sets the fastest time for Mercedes

Absent during Sunday’s race, the rain made an appearance for the first day of private testing at the Austrian circuit. So much so that the session was suspended for several hours in the morning. To make up for this delay, the teams agreed to extend the end of the day by two hours, until 8 PM.

The young McLaren protégé managed to bring his car to the top of the timesheets. However, it is interesting to note that he was not the most diligent on track, as he recorded only the 6th highest total of the day despite not encountering any major issues.

Behind the Mercedes, the usual order was somewhat disrupted as Frenchman Esteban Ocon placed his Sahara Force India in second position. The GP3 driver could only be delighted with such a performance: “The car was great today, very pleasant to drive. I noticed how much it had improved compared to the last time I drove it in Barcelona. On days like this, you learn so much because the kilometers are so valuable in Formula One. I was able to test both in wet and dry conditions.”

Behind, we find Max Verstappen, who accumulated an impressive number of laps as he totaled 97! The Renault engine, therefore, did not present any particular problem, whether in terms of reliability or performance…

Behind, we find the rookie Antonio Fuoco, who was experiencing driving a Formula 1 car for the first time. Unfortunately for the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS champion, the day did not go as planned: after putting a wheel on the grass at the approach to the first corner, he spun. This only ended in the wall, which once again damaged the front wing of the red car. Nevertheless, he achieved the fourth best performance of the day and completed 71 laps of the Austrian circuit.

Regularly deprived of the first practice session on Friday morning, Romain Grosjean was able to enjoy a full day behind the wheel of his single-seater, finishing in 5th position. He is ahead of another Frenchman, Pierre Gasly, driving the Red Bull. The GP2 driver was able to string together laps, reaching the 80-lap mark for the day.

He was able to reunite with one of his competitors from GP2, the Italian Raffaele Marciello, who was driving the Sauber. Nevertheless, the latter was not spared from problems as an electronic issue deprived him of two precious hours of running: « What a shame and bad luck for the team… We only had half a day of testing today because of the rain. When we went out, we had a problem with the electronic system. »

Behind, we find the leader of the GP2 championship, Stoffel Vandoorne, who was able to get back behind the wheel of an F1 car for the first time this season. To the great satisfaction of the team, whose two cars had retired after only eight laps in the race, the Belgian was able to complete 76 laps during the season. Under these conditions, performance was not the goal, but rather the accumulation of mileage.

Similarly, Susie Wolff focused on aerodynamic testing, which explains a very modest time, more than two seconds behind the day’s leader. Nevertheless, it allowed her to get a taste of F1 again before taking part in the first practice session on Friday at Silverstone.