Sebastian Vettel led the first day of testing for the 2019 F1 season.
Ferrari served notice of their intentions on the first day of the new season by both setting the fastest time and covering the most laps of any team. Vettel completed 169 tours of the Circuit de Catalunya – more than two-and-a-half race distances – in eight hours of running.Carlos Sainz Jnr scaled the times sheets late of the day to end the test second-fastest for McLaren. This came after he caused one of the day’s four red flags when he came to a stop at the pit lane exit with a loss of power.
Stoppages of Kimi Raikkonen’s new Alfa Romeo C38 bookended the day’s proceedings. He got off to an inauspicious start with his new team by spinning off at turn four when the first test of the year was just five minutes old. He was swiftly back on track, however, and logged 114 laps before stopping on the start/finish straight moments before the chequered flag was due to fall.
The day’s other red flag was brought about when Romain Grosjean’s Haas VF-19 pulled up approaching the chicane. He went on to set the day’s third-fastest time, almost a second off Vettel’s mark.
Red Bull covered 128 laps with new engine supplier Red Bull with Max Verstappen at the wheel. he pipped Raikkonen to the day’s fourth-quickest time. Fellow Honda user Daniil Kvyat was sixth for for Toro Rosso.
Sergio Perez gave the new Racing Point RP19 its first run but the car, which hadn’t had a shakedown test, only managed 30 laps. This was considerably more than Williams, whose new car has not arrived at the track yet, and isn’t expected to until Wednesday.
Mercedes and Renault, the only teams to split their days between two drivers, occupied the bottom four places on the times sheet.
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2019 pre-season test day one lap times
Pos. | Car number | Driver | Team | Model | Best time | Gap | Laps | Tyres |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | SF90 | 1’18.161 | 169 | C3 | |
2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | MCL34 | 1’18.558 | 0.397 | 119 | C4 |
3 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | VF-19 | 1’19.159 | 0.998 | 65 | C3 |
4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB15 | 1’19.426 | 1.265 | 128 | C3 |
5 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | C38 | 1’19.462 | 1.301 | 114 | C3 |
6 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | STR14 | 1’19.464 | 1.303 | 77 | C4 |
7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | RP19 | 1’19.944 | 1.783 | 30 | C3 |
8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | W10 | 1’20.127 | 1.966 | 69 | C2 |
9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W10 | 1’20.135 | 1.974 | 81 | C2 |
10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | RS19 | 1’20.980 | 2.819 | 65 | C2 |
11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | RS19 | 1’20.983 | 2.822 | 44 | C2 |
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2019 F1 season
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GeeMac (@geemac)
18th February 2019, 17:16
Is this the first day in the V6 hybrid era that Mercedes (as an engine supplier) has finished the day with the fewest laps?
Jesper (@jesperfey13)
18th February 2019, 17:23
I’m not sure how your calculator works, but after Ferrari, Mercedes did the most laps of anyone..
Jesper (@jesperfey13)
18th February 2019, 17:24
Ah sorry.. engine supplier. Could be..
usta
18th February 2019, 17:52
348 laps Ferrari
228 laps Renault
205 laps Honda
180 laps Mercedes (no Williams on track)
Tim
18th February 2019, 17:24
What happened to Perez?
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
18th February 2019, 19:58
They had an issue in the morning.
Sonny Crockett
18th February 2019, 17:17
As a McLaren fan I am going to read absolutely ZERO into Sainz’s lap-times today.
It’s the hope that kills you!
GeeMac (@geemac)
18th February 2019, 17:18
Try being a Williams fan… :)
Sonny Crockett
18th February 2019, 17:20
They’ve always been my 2nd favourite team.
Double the pain!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th February 2019, 18:34
@geemac well, right now it could be the fastest car on the grid, but we just don’t know yet. :P
Minardi (@gitanes)
18th February 2019, 19:14
If they still put Latifi In the car this week, then I would be really worried
Tim
18th February 2019, 17:32
I never was a McLaren fan, but I’m glad they had reliability today as well as RBR-Honda. The more competitive teams, the better. Shame for Williams though. Situation with Robert reminds me Kobayashi’s last season when he raced for Caterham with croudfunding and it was bitter to watch decent driver struggling in a crappy car.
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
18th February 2019, 17:35
Alonso got a 1:17.7 last year at Barcelona, so 8 tenths slower in a car with less aero grip at a cooler time of year, I’d be optimistic with that.
RetardedF1sh (@retardedf1sh)
18th February 2019, 17:47
McLaren was the second fastest across all pre-season testing last year so I wouldn’t read too much into it
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th February 2019, 23:13
Also, the time posted has been made on softer tyres. But let’s hope it’s not a dog of a car once again!
Abe (@okeptl)
18th February 2019, 17:21
Any info about the fuel pressure issue on the HAAS? Is it because they are running the 062 PU instead of the 064 like the Ferrari and Alfa?
Krommenaas (@krommenaas)
18th February 2019, 17:22
So, another season of time tables that omit the tyre types?
tom
18th February 2019, 17:46
It literally says the tyre type on the table…
ColdFly (@)
18th February 2019, 21:05
Maybe now people start complaining about lack of info on fuel level, wind strength/direction and track temperature.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
18th February 2019, 21:44
@coldfly yet nobody mentioned that sauber (ahem Alfa) is trying to get away with tyre 33 steps softer than the rest…
ColdFly (@)
19th February 2019, 8:04
I C what you did there ;)
@jeanrien
coefficient
18th February 2019, 17:26
McLaren’s renaissance is underway! Praise the board!
BaKano (@bakano)
18th February 2019, 17:29
Here’s the tyre used on the driver’s fastest lap
On the C3 (yellow, medium) tyre: Vettel, Grosjean, Verstappen, Raikkonen and Perez
On the C2 (red, soft) tyre: Sainz and Kvyat
On the C4 (white, hard) tyre: Bottas, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo
Mikael André (@meko1971)
18th February 2019, 17:40
You got confused with the C’s.. C1 hardest and C5 softest..
Wilfred (@wilfredp)
18th February 2019, 19:45
yah its the inverse.
BaKano (@bakano)
18th February 2019, 20:32
Yes I did made a mess with the C numbers
lindamarks
18th February 2019, 18:34
i watched todays live coverage on f1tv and have to say that it was super, super dull. far more boring to watch than the official practice sessions.
can see why this stuff tends to get very poor viewing numbers as while the most diehard fans may really enjoy watching this stuff i do not think its something the majority of those who watch f1 are going to enjoy.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
18th February 2019, 19:50
I’d be really surprised if I’m counted among the most die-hard. I thought it was amazing, especially being able to see how the new cars look on the track in motion on day 1.
I was really surprised about how there was always someone out on track. Expected a lot more of an empty track with no one running and closed garages.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th February 2019, 23:19
@skipgamer I took a one month subscription. I quite like the multicam archives. As for the testing session I got mixed feelings. The afternoon session is only with the FX audio, so no commentaries at all. It get absurd at the end where one can see presentators silently talk. Still gremlins that shouldn’t happen with a paid service but at least I got to see the cars! I’m sure it will improve and it’s nice that they try opening up all those treasures.
Islander
18th February 2019, 18:48
Vettel spun just like Kimi, but Keith goes out of his way to tell us about an “inauspicious start” for Raikkonen and no mention of Seb’s spin.
Kimi must have done something dire to Keith’s house, or his car, or something…
KaIIe (@kaiie)
18th February 2019, 19:56
Well, Kimi’s spin did cause the first red flag of the session.
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
18th February 2019, 20:00
Seb’s Spin wasn’t worth mentioning. He lost the rear on turn 14, and caused no incident whatsoever. Kimi brought out a red flag.
Stash (@stash)
18th February 2019, 22:25
Each to their own. Thanks for mentioning it Islander. Was he pushing really hard or was it driver error? Who knows? Worth mentioning for sure in my humble opinion. Keith does not indulge in favouritism.
Islander
18th February 2019, 18:52
@Lindamarks
… so you don’t live in the British Isles, lucky you. F1tv is not available to us.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
18th February 2019, 19:55
I wonder what happened to Renault, if there were issues in the afternoon? They were looking so good at the half way point. Kinda sad to wake up to Ricciardo’s paltry 44 laps :(
BaKano (@bakano)
18th February 2019, 20:36
Hulk set his fastest time early in his running if I recall correctly so it seems they didn’t progress much … and Danny also made fewer laps in the afternoon but he’s the new guy so it might be due to that.
Still I’m a bit suspicious about the team as they brought a car with many changes compared to the render they showed before…
Davey
18th February 2019, 20:14
Get Alonso back! McLaren need a driver better than the average two!
Rolley Bidoney
18th February 2019, 21:04
is vettel’s fastest lap was with opened or closed DRS.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
19th February 2019, 8:16
Red Bull: 128 laps.
Haas-Rich Energy: 65 laps.