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Barcelona Winter Test 1 Analysis: Lotus Quickest but Mercedes Look Great

Nine teams headed to Barcelona for the second winter test, with the Circuit de Catalunya hosting the teams and drivers for the first of two tests there. Lotus was the quickest on three of the four days, whilst Red Bull took the glory on the second of the four days. However, despite this, nobody looks anywhere near as good as Mercedes at this point, who put in an alarming time on the medium tyres on the final day. Force India attended this test, but with their 2014 car.

Barcelona Winter Test 1 Day 1

Kimi Räikkönen set the initial pace on the first day of testing, but he was pipped by Pastor Maldonado who was using the soft tyre. The first notable story of the day was reigning champion Lewis Hamilton coming down with a fever, meaning that Mercedes had to draft in Pascal Wehrlein, who was testing for Force India. Sergio Perez replaced the German for the afternoon in the Force India, whilst Wehrlein did some strong mileage in his Mercedes. There was an odd collision between Felipe Nasr and Susie Wolff, with the Brazilian coming onto the racing line without looking, ruining both teams’ sessions.

  1. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes E23, 1:25.011, 69 laps, Soft tyre
  2. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari SF15-T, +0.156, 74, Medium
  3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault RB11, +0.536, 59, Soft
  4. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, +1.625, 34, Medium
  5. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari C34, +2.296, 79, Medium
  6. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso-Renault STR10, +2.889, 94, Medium
  7. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda MP4-30, +3.171, 21, Medium
  8. Pascal Wehrlein, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, +3.318, 32, Winter Hard
  9. Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes W06, +3.478, 48, Hard
  10. Susie Wolff, Williams-Mercedes FW37, +3.895, 86, Medium
  11. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W06, +5.418, 11, Hard

Barcelona Winter Test 1 Day 2

Day 2 was a very productive day for Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo, who was quickest and covered more mileage than anybody else, although Mercedes managed more laps, but split between both of their race drivers. The day was somewhat undramatic compared to the first day, with Carlos Sainz’ spin being the only notable incident throughout the day. McLaren finally managed a solid amount of laps, clocking in almost a race distance all in one day in Fernando Alonso’s hands.

  1. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault RB11, 1:24.574, 143 laps, Soft tyre
  2. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari SF15-T, +0.010, 90, Soft
  3. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes FW37, +0.098, 88, Soft
  4. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, +0.128, 121, Super Soft
  5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W06, +0.349, 89, Medium
  6. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W06, +0.982, 66, Medium
  7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda MP4-30, +1.387, 59, Soft
  8. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus-Mercedes E23, +1.706, 77, Soft
  9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari C34, +2.760, 113, Medium
  10. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso-Renault STR10, +4.371, 100, Medium

Barcelona Winter Test 1 Day 3

Pastor Maldonado went all guns blazing on the third day of testing, setting a quicker time than his first day time using the super soft tyre. Sebastian Vettel spun off in his Ferrari, bring that to a halt. Over half of the teams managed to break 100 laps on the Saturday.

  1. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes E23, 1:24.348, 104 laps, Super Soft
  2. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso-Renault STR10, +0.391, 129, Super Soft
  3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W06, +1.728, 101, Medium
  4. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari C34, +1.992, 53, Soft
  5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF15-T, +2.059, 105, Soft
  6. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault RB11, +2.241, 112, Medium
  7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes FW37, +2.564, 55, Medium
  8. Pascal Wehlrein, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, +2.985, 81, Medium
  9. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes FW37, +3.208, 39, Medium
  10. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda MP4-30, +4.803, 24, Medium

Barcelona Winter Test 1 Day 4

Lotus stole the bragging rights again on the fourth day with Romain Grosjean going a second quicker than last year’s pole time. However, alarm bells were raised when Nico Rosberg when just three tenths slower on a compound which is expected to be considerably slower than the one Grosjean used. The day was marred by home favourites Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz crashing at different points in the day, with the two-time World Champion being taken to hospital as a result.

  1. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes E23, 1.24.067, 111 laps, Super Soft
  2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W06, +0.254, 131, Medium
  3. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault RB11, +0.874, 104, Soft
  4. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari C34, +0.889, 73, Super Soft
  5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes FW37, +1.278, 129, Soft
  6. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso-Renault STR10, +1.537, 88, Super Soft
  7. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF15-T, +2.245, 76, Soft
  8. Nico Hülkenberg, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, +2.524, 36, Soft
  9. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda MP4-30, +3.889, 20, Medium

Complete Barcelona Winter Test 1 Times

  1. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes E23, 1:24.067, 111 laps, Super Soft
  2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W06, 1:24.231, 197, Medium
  3. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes E23, 1:24.348, 173, Super Soft
  4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault RB11, 1:24.574, 202, Soft
  5. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari SF15-T, 1:24.584, 164, Soft
  6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes FW37, 1:24.672, 143, Soft
  7. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, 1:24.702, 155, Super Soft
  8. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso-Renault STR10, 1:24.739, 223, Super Soft
  9. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W06, 1:24.923, 201, Medium
  10. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault RB11, 1:24.941, 216, Soft
  11. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari C34, 1:24.956, 152, Super Soft
  12. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes FW37, 1:25.345, 168, Soft
  13. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso-Renault STR10, 1:25.604, 188, Super Soft
  14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda MP4-30, 1:25.961, 79, Soft
  15. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus-Mercedes E23, 1:26.280, 77, Soft
  16. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF15-T, 1:26.312, 181, Soft
  17. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari C34, 1:26.340, 166, Soft
  18. Nico Hülkenberg, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, 1:26.591, 36, Soft
  19. Pascal Wehrlein, Force India-Mercedes VJM07, 1:27.333, 113, Medium
  20. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda MP4-30, 1:28.182, 45, Medium
  21. Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes W06, 1:28.489, 48, Hard
  22. Susie Wolff, Williams-Mercedes FW37, 1:28.906, 86, Medium

 

 

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