Pre-Season Testing Barcelona – Day 6: Bottas Celebrates, Gutierrez Without Turbo
For the first time this winter, it was a Williams that topped the timesheets. On the other hand, Haas experienced a disastrous day with only one installation lap completed throughout the entire day.
During the first week of testing, Haas experienced a progressive build-up without any major issues, which was remarkable for a brand-new team. The good run came to a halt yesterday when a problem with the fuel system ended Esteban Gutierrez’s day after just 23 laps.
Today was even worse as Esteban Gutierrez simply had a blank day. The Mexican was only able to complete a single installation lap before definitively returning to the pits due to a problem with his turbo, which had already been replaced overnight. So there are only two short days left to allow the team to make adjustments, particularly regarding race simulations and pit stops.
Günther Steiner: After changing the turbo charger last night we saw an anomaly, we’re investigating and we hope to be back out later.
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) 2 mars 2016
It’s not at all the same situation at Mercedes. Indeed, the Brackley car is so reliable that the team has to run both drivers during the day to preserve them. This morning, Lewis Hamilton was able to complete 73 laps (with a best time that placed him in second position for the day), while Nico Rosberg managed much more than a race simulation, with 91 laps but at a slower pace (9th time, 3 seconds off the lead).
But the 164 laps of the Mercedes were still beaten by the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, who managed to complete two more laps of the Catalunya circuit. The young Spaniard thus achieved the 7th fastest time of the day.
The other teams also showed increased reliability as Kevin Magnussen was able to complete 126 laps, following a very complicated day yesterday. His lap time was also decent as it was the third-best performance of the day. While Ferrari had an off day yesterday due to gearbox issues, progress was resumed today as Sebastian Vettel completed 151 laps.
On the other hand, Marcus Ericsson once again had to deal with the teething problems of his new C35 as he was held up for a good part of the morning before completing 55 laps. But a spin later sent him into the gravel trap, which caused a red flag with one hour remaining in the session.
In the end, it was Valtteri Bottas who managed to sign the best performance of the day, after completing 108 laps.
CLASSIFICATION – END OF DAY 2, FINAL TEST
Bottas: ⏱
Sainz: 💪#F1Testing pic.twitter.com/hKlmZaPQRg— Formula 1 (@F1) 2 mars 2016
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
