Pre-season testing for the 2016 championship ended with Ferrari on top for the fifth time in eight days. However Sebastian Vettel was unable to improve on the quickest time of the test set by team mate Kimi Raikkonen yesterday.
Vettel began the day by trying the prototype Halo driver head protection which Raikkonen had run 24 hours earlier.
Mercedes concluded their low-key, high-mileage preparations in much the same fashion they had over the previous two weeks. But it was not a completely trouble-free day – Lewis Hamilton’s car came to a stop on the pit straight shortly before the lunch time break.
Nonetheless the team ended their eight days of running having completed more than 6,000 kilomentres of testing – just 97km less than they managed over the twelve days of pre-season running last year. Mercedes covered 50% more mileage than any team bar Toro Rosso.
Carlos Sainz Jnr had another busy day in the STR11 and also used the ultra-soft tyres to produce the team’s quickest lap of the test so far. He ended the day second on the times sheets ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams.
The only other team to improve its lap time was McLaren, as Jenson Button posted a 1’24.714 on ultra-softs which left the Honda-powered car just under two seconds off the fastest time seen during the test.
Sergio Perez caused another of the day’s red flags when his car stopped on the track. Rio Haryanto was unable to run in the morning due to problems with his Manor, but a more productive afternoon session saw him complete 58 laps.
After a difficult start to the second test, Haas managed more 91 laps on the final day which was shared between its two drivers. The newcomers ended pre-season testing last on the times sheets but just three-tenths of a second off Manor.
Today’s times and laps
Pos. | Car number | Driver | Team | Model | Best time | Gap | Laps | Tyres |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | SF16-H | 1’22.852 | 142 | Super-soft | |
2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | STR11 | 1’23.134 | 0.282 | 132 | Ultra-soft |
3 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | FW38 | 1’23.644 | 0.792 | 129 | Super-soft |
4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | VJM09 | 1’23.721 | 0.869 | 60 | Super-soft |
5 | 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W07 | 1’24.133 | 1.281 | 69 | Medium |
6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | RB12 | 1’24.427 | 1.575 | 123 | Soft |
7 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | MP4-31 | 1’24.714 | 1.862 | 121 | Ultra-soft |
8 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | RS16 | 1’24.859 | 2.007 | 90 | Super-soft |
9 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | C35 | 1’25.031 | 2.179 | 132 | Soft |
10 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | VF-16 | 1’25.255 | 2.403 | 66 | Soft |
11 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | VF-16 | 1’25.422 | 2.570 | 25 | Super-soft |
12 | 88 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | MRT05 | 1’25.899 | 3.047 | 58 | Ultra-soft |
13 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | W07 | 1’26.140 | 3.288 | 70 | Medium |
Teams’ best times – full test
Position | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Tyre |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ferrari | SF16-H | 1’22.765 | Ultra-soft | |
2 | Mercedes | W07 | 1’23.022 | 0.257 | Soft |
3 | Force India | VJM09 | 1’23.110 | 0.345 | Super-soft |
4 | Toro Rosso | STR11 | 1’23.134 | 0.369 | Ultra-soft |
5 | Williams | FW38 | 1’23.193 | 0.428 | Soft |
6 | Red Bull | RB12 | 1’23.525 | 0.760 | Ultra-soft |
7 | Renault | RS16 | 1’23.933 | 1.168 | Super-soft |
8 | McLaren | MP4-31 | 1’24.714 | 1.949 | Ultra-soft |
9 | Sauber | C35 | 1’24.760 | 1.995 | Soft |
10 | Manor | MRT05 | 1’24.913 | 2.148 | Ultra-soft |
11 | Sauber | C34 | 1’25.237 | 2.472 | Soft |
12 | Haas | VF-16 | 1’25.255 | 2.490 | Soft |
Teams’ mileages – full test
2016 and 2015 lap times context
How each team’s best time so far compares to their pre-season testing times at the Circuit de Catalunya last year and their fastest lap during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend. A negative difference is quicker, positive is slower.
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Stuart
4th March 2016, 17:30
Didn’t Hamilton have problems on another day as well?
Mashiat
4th March 2016, 17:35
Are McLaren holding back? Because I’m pretty sure they did a 1:24.7 on the softs, supersofts and the ultrasofts. As a McLaren fan, what’s worrying is that people are saying how compared to last year, even the chassis looks worse. What a disappointment McLaren has now become!
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
4th March 2016, 17:57
They’ve announced that the aero package is still not final spec and what turns up in Melbourne will be what we need to judge them by.
Mashiat
4th March 2016, 17:36
Let’s hope Hamilton loses a few tenths over the winter for entertainment’s sake.
AliceD (@aliced)
4th March 2016, 18:24
Can you please show the best times the teams achieved for each tyre type, so that we can see who was fastest and slowest on each tyre type?
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:21
Below are the times by tyre… i forgot to put the day also… my bad.
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:27
Sorry also i have to say that this is only by the times @keithcollantine shared with us.
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:08
Supersoft
Ferrari 1’22.852
FI 1’23.110
Williams 1’23.261
Toro Rosso 1’23.382
Ranault 1’23.933
Mclaren 1’24.870
Haas 1’25.422
akabeer
6th March 2016, 14:03
If I remember correct kimi did 1.23.009 in soft on day 3 of test-2…
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:10
Ultrasoft
Ferrari 1’22.765
Toro Rosso 1’23.134
Williams 1’23.229
Red Bull 1’23.525
Mclaren 1’24.714
Manor 1’24.913
nana lamana
5th March 2016, 0:57
The lap times on the super soft and the ultrasoft are almost identical which it might mean that either the mclaren’s car destroys its tires(according to some people the ultrasoft tires doesn’t last the whole lap, according to some people it runs well through the first and second sectors in Barcelona and then the performance goes backwards, many cars were doing the best times in the first and second sectors but by the third sector they lost all the improvements in comparison to the super soft tires. So it will theoretically mean that mclaren did not push it to the maximum on their best lap on the ultrasoft tire.
Amit (@lautmotor)
5th March 2016, 12:08
ultrasoft is not designed to work in Barcelona.
Cranio
7th March 2016, 15:34
Force India (Hulkenberg) 1.23.251 (03/03)
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:12
Soft
Mercedes 1’23.022
Williams 1’23.193
Red Bull 1’24.427
Mclaren 1’24.735
Sauber 1’24.760
Toro Rosso 1’25.176
Haas 1’25.255
Renault 1’25.263
FI 1’25.336
Manor 1’25.925
spafrancorchamps
4th March 2016, 19:56
So, judging this, the laptime difference between softs and ultra softs is somewhere between 0.9 and 1.3 seconds(?). So McLaren’s best possible lap time (if they pushed during the lap on the softs) would arguably be a laptime in the range of 1:23.8 – 1:23.4. That sucks.. They better have something up their sleeves or this McLaren-fan will have yet another awful season :(
Cranio
7th March 2016, 15:40
Pireli said diff between 0.5 ~ 0.8s.
Shashank
4th March 2016, 20:17
Ferrari did a 1:23:009 on the softs
sunny stivala
4th March 2016, 22:29
What is the use in saying that the SF16-H did a 1-23.009s on softs when the opinion pushed forward by the usual spinners that are in a position to influence the opinion of their followers is/was as follows, on the first day of testing “the WO7 offered a glimpse of its true potential” by midway through the second week of testing when the WO7 also used the softs “it is notoriously difficult to accurately read performance in testing”. most probably some of those opinion spinners after assuring everybody and his dog that FERRARI were having big engine problems, they are now suspecting that the 059/5 is now being fitted with SPARK PLUGS!
kpcart
5th March 2016, 10:09
But Ferrari did do a 1:23.009 on softd. I don’t understand the rest of your rant
Kingshark (@kingshark)
4th March 2016, 20:50
Ferrari did a 1’23.009 on softs
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:13
Medium
Mercedes 1’24.133
Ferrari 1’24.611
Redbull 1’25.235
Toro Rosso 1’25.300
Williams 1’26.091
Haas 1’26.661
Mclaren 1’26.919
Sauber 1’27.555
Manor 1’28.249
Renault 1’29.356
Haas 1’28.399
Alan Torres
4th March 2016, 19:23
Maybe @keithcollantine can do a graph … : )
Cranio
7th March 2016, 15:39
Massa did 1.24.898 with Williams in 03/03. Maybe he got another tyre that day and got better time with it. Rosberg got a 1.24.126 in the same day.
John Beak (@johnbeak)
5th March 2016, 0:18
I did a projection of corrected times based on Alan Torres’ data and filtered out best projected times for each team assuming that the gaps between tyre compounds are Ultra Soft -> 0.5 s -> Super Soft -> 0.6 s -> Soft -> 0.8 s -> Medium.
Team Tune Tyres Correction Projection Gap
Mercedes 1:23.022 Soft 1.1 1:21.922 0.000
Williams 1:23.193 Soft 1.1 1:22.093 0.171
Ferrari 1:22.852 Super-soft 0.5 1:22.352 0.430
Force India 1:23.110 Super-soft 0.5 1:22.610 0.688
Toro Rosso 1:23.382 Super-soft 0.5 1:22.882 0.960
Red Bull 1:24.427 Soft 1.1 1:23.327 1.405
Renault 1:23.933 Super-soft 0.5 1:23.433 1.511
McLaren 1:24.735 Soft 1.1 1:23.635 1.713
Sauber 1:24.760 Soft 1.1 1:23.660 1.738
Haas 1:25.255 Soft 1.1 1:24.155 2.233
Manor 1:25.925 Soft 1.1 1:24.825 2.903
MattDS
5th March 2016, 1:06
@johnbeak the assumption is faulty – the super soft and ultra soft tyres didn’t even come close to delivering that kind of lap find. Presumably they were not a good fit for the track and conditions.
See, Ferrari put in a time of 1:23.009 on the soft tyre, which is faster than Rosbergs time.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
6th March 2016, 7:47
@johnbeak
As MattDS said, the ultrasoft and supersoft barely deliver any laptime over the soft tyres, because they are fundamentally not designed for this track. Anyway, Ferrari did a 1’23.009 on soft tyres, which are at least one second faster than the medium tyres. Also, the hards are unusable in these temperatures and much slower than any other tyre.
The gaps are far less consistent. Based on Ferrari running all five tyres, the gap is something like:
Ultrasoft -> 0.1 s -> Supersoft -> 0.2 s -> Soft -> 1.0 s -> Medium -> 1.5 s -> Hard
nana lamana
5th March 2016, 1:00
What?
uan (@uan)
5th March 2016, 3:00
Btw, does anyone know the deal with the Vettel’s helmet? What’s up with the black obscuring the German colors?
periwinkle (@shena)
5th March 2016, 4:00
It looks black from some angles due to metal/chrome effect.
From different angles.
https://www.racefans.net/2016/03/04/2016-pre-season-testing-day-eight-in-pictures/motor-racing-formula-one-testing-test-two-day-4-barcelona-spain-27/
https://www.racefans.net/2016/02/23/haas-vf-16-technical-analysis/test-pre-campionato-f12016-t1-barcellona-spagna-5/
Probably not the best idea, if it often makes the part look like a block of black.
smudgersmith1 (@smudgersmith1)
5th March 2016, 10:46
My brain hurts !