Robert Kubica set Alfa Romeo’s quickest time of pre-season testing so far as he headed the morning’s running at the Circuit de Catalunya.
[f1tv2020testa]The team’s test driver spent his second half-day at the wheel of the new C39. He completed over 50 laps after avoiding the barriers when he had a spin at the chicane an hour into the session.
Alexander Albon ended the morning third on the times sheets but spent much of the first two hours in the Red Bull garage due to a technical problem on his RB16. Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri also had a quiet morning, Pierre Gasly completing just 25 laps, the last of which moved him up to second in the times ahead of Albon.
Mercedes and Ferrari completed their usual extensive mileages with little obvious trouble. Sebastian Vettel improved on Ferrari’s best lap time from last week, but also had a high-speed spin at turn seven. He avoided damaging his Ferrari but the session had to be red-flagged so the marshals could clear gravel from the track.
The only other red flag during the morning was caused by Nicholas Latifi, whose Williams came to a stop on the straight between turns nine and 10. The FW43 did not reappear after it was brought back into the pits.
Romain Grosjean ended the morning’s running at the bottom of the times behind Latifi and Carlos Sainz Jnr, the latter missing out on some running as McLaren had to remove the floor from his MCL35 at one stage.
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| Pos. | Car number | Driver | Team | Model | Best time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | C39 | 1’16.942 | 53 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W11 | 1’17.562 | 0.620 | 89 |
| 3 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | RP20 | 1’17.787 | 0.845 | 43 |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | SF1000 | 1’18.113 | 1.171 | 84 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | RS20 | 1’18.214 | 1.272 | 53 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | MCL35 | 1’18.221 | 1.279 | 46 |
| 7 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | FW43 | 1’18.300 | 1.358 | 48 |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | AT01 | 1’17.540 | 0.598 | 25 |
| 9 | 10 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull | RB16 | 1’17.540 | 0.598 | 25 |
| 10 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | VF-20 | 1’18.670 | 1.728 | 42 |
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2020 F1 season
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vayha
26th February 2020, 12:25
Keith with your logic… is this mean that Robert Kubica is far more faster than George Russel?
Chris Lloyd (@chrisr1718)
26th February 2020, 13:55
No, it means the Alfa is faster than the Williams.
MefeDrone
26th February 2020, 13:57
it’s not about logic, it’s about stopper’s reading
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
26th February 2020, 12:41
Did anyone follow the F1 TV coverage this morning?
I’m a little bit suspicious about Vettel’s S3-time, because it was comfortably quicker than the rest of the field (0.36 faster than Hamilton). Did he miss the chicane?
Ferrari still seem to be hiding something. Vettel’s fastest lap was nearly a second slower than his optimal lap (adding his fastest sectors together). That’s why I was thinking he cut the track somehow.
kpcart
26th February 2020, 13:13
As a Kubica fan since before f1, I had a smile with that run, admittedly a glory run just like raikonnen’s last week day 2, both on C5 tyres, but it goes to show this disabled man can still handle the fastest racing cars in the world. The last time Kubica led a testing session was for Renault in 2011 just before the horrendous ‘career ending’ crash. This pace boost at Alfa over what he had at williams will give him confidence to be a proper race driver again, I bet that season at Williams last year was confidence draining, and George Russell did brilliant in that car… DTM will be interesting for kubica , he is in a new privateer team , but I suspect he hasn’t given up his F1 dream. He is 6 years younger than Kimi, and I am sure he is hoping for a full time drive at Alfa next season if Kimi steps away, he has developed great sponsor backing with PKN Orlen. Saying all that, I can see Kimi racing in F1 until he is 45, he even still looks young, so I’m not counting on Robert getting the seat at Alfa in 2021.
kpcart
26th February 2020, 13:47
F1’s lost talent, since his accident Kubica has had interest publically disclosed from the following teams in one way or another- simulator driver, test driver, race driver: Red bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, Williams, Racing Point, Haas and Alfa Romeo, that is 8 out of 10 F1 teams seeking his service. That is unheard of, that along with WRC teams, DTM and endurance racing teams, all while being disabled.
His story is sad, but he is in the best physical shape of his life, being a cycling freak. I think his 2nd career is now ready to take off as Alfas test driver mixed with a full season of DTM.
anon
26th February 2020, 19:43
kpcart, I don’t know where you have read claims that Kubica was supposedly being earmarked for a role at some of those teams – when exactly were Mercedes, Red Bull or Renault meant to have been competing for his services in 2019?
As far as I am aware, Kubica hasn’t been linked with Mercedes for seven years, having used their simulator to test his own capabilities back in 2013. No reputable site seems to have claimed that there were any talks between Kubica and Mercedes in 2019, or for several years before that – the only sites that I’ve seen trying to create a link were generally manipulating an offhand comment from Wolff about “looking for options” for a simulator driver to suggest that, since Kubica is on the market, he must therefore be a candidate: exactly the sort of rumour mill manipulation that Dieter has complained about in the past.
With Renault, whilst they accommodated Kubica’s desire for testing, they seem to have lost interest in Kubica once Mercedes indicated they would be prepared to negotiate over Ocon’s contract. Furthermore, Kubica wasn’t registered as either a reserve, test or simulator driver for Renault in that period – at the time that Kubica carried out his test for Renault, they were in talks with Jack Aitken to appoint him to that role.
As for Red Bull, I don’t recall seeing a clear sign that they were that interested in Kubica last year, or indeed shown much interest in him at any point in his career.
stefano (@alfa145)
26th February 2020, 22:30
best physical shape sadly can do little against a disfuncional arm, though
Postreader
26th February 2020, 13:45
That’s something you don’t read everyday.
Islander
26th February 2020, 15:02
Alfa: Brawn 2009 all over again….