Barcelona Tests II – Day 4: Williams Finishes Tests on Top, Maldonado into the Wall
It's over! And yet... it's only just beginning! The winter private tests have just concluded on this 8th day of testing in Barcelona. It's Valtteri Bottas's Williams that finishes at the top of the timesheets with a time recorded in the morning. From this last day, we'll remember that no one really wanted to show their true potential.
Valtteri Bottas is the name at the top of the timesheets today for the last day of winter testing. He is ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari and Felipe Nasr’s Sauber. However, this is not really a reflection of the hierarchy.
This 8th day of testing and the last of the off-season is marked by two facts: the first is that most drivers haven’t pushed hard. The second is that some teams, like McLaren, are really behind in their testing program.
The day was marked by three red flags. Two were caused early in the afternoon, one by Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus right after the restart at 2 PM. The driver hit the wall at turn 4 of the circuit. The day ended quickly for Lotus.
The day was also unproductive for Button’s McLaren, which could only hit the track at 12:45 p.m. to complete a total of 36 laps in the afternoon. McLaren is the team that has driven the least in these tests.
On the other hand, some teams were able to conduct race simulations. This includes Felipe Nasr with Sauber, who did a lot of driving: 159 laps for the Brazilian, who also performed many standing starts. Ricciardo completed 146 laps with Red Bull, who despite a problem this morning, managed to make up for the lost time and log kilometers in the afternoon. Max Verstappen completed 130 laps with Toro Rosso. He also experienced a failure in the energy recovery system but was able to get back on the track in the afternoon and accumulate kilometers. And finally, Vettel completed 129 laps.
Mercedes hid a lot today, as seen in this photo:
Il reste 5 minutes. Rosberg vient de rentrer au stand. Il va tenter une qualif. Et il se cache mais on a l’oeil #F1 pic.twitter.com/dtFTeoTSGg
— Motors Inside – F1 (@MotorsInside) 1 Mars 2015
The team ran on unbranded tires to avoid communicating about its performance. Rosberg also did not seek performance while on super soft or soft tires. Therefore, he is at the bottom of the rankings, with a time that does not truly represent the potential of the Mercedes. The proof is that the two best times of these 8 days of testing are credited to Mercedes.
The editorial team will offer you more comprehensive reports on these winter tests and invites you to join them in two weeks for the first Grand Prix of the 2015 Formula 1 season.
The result of day 4 (2nd week) of the Barcelona tests – Sunday, March 1, 2015:
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
1 | Bottas | Williams Martini Racing | 1:23.063 | 89 | |
2 | Vettel | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:23.469 | +0.406 | 129 |
3 | Nasr | Sauber F1 Team | 1:24.023 | +0.960 | 159 |
4 | Perez | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:24.527 | +1.464 | 85 |
5 | Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:24.638 | +1.575 | 72 |
6 | Verstappen | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:25.113 | +2.050 | 130 |
7 | Ricciardo | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:25.186 | +2.123 | 146 |
8 | Maldonado | Lotus F1 Team | 1:25.327 | +2.264 | 30 |
9 | Button | McLaren Honda | 1:28.272 | +5.209 | 36 |
