Ferrari and Mercedes had contrasting fortunes on the fifth day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Sebastian Vettel ended the day on top after cutting more than a second off the team’s previous best time in the test. But Mercedes’ running was cut short by the latest in a series of power unit problems for the team.Vettel set a 1’16.841 shortly before the lunch break which still stood as the fastest time at the end of the day. He also covered more than two race distances at the wheel of the SF1000, despite spinning off at turn five in the morning.
Lewis Hamilton did just 14 laps after taking over from team mate Valtteri Bottas at midday. He was delayed leaving the Mercedes garage after lunch, then came to a stop at turn six.
The team later confirmed they “experienced an oil pressure anomaly which made the engine shut down as a precautionary measure” and were “further investigating the issue.” Hamilton’s car did not reappear.
The top five drivers all set the quickest times for their teams in the test so far. Pierre Gasly moved AlphaTauri up to second place in the afternoon ahead of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point.
Williams had borne the brunt of Mercedes’ power unit problems until today, but Nicholas Latifi enjoyed a trouble-free day on his way to the fourth-fastest time. He covered 160 laps, one of the highest totals for a driver on a single day throughout the test.
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Pos. | Car number | Driver | Team | Model | Best time | Gap | Laps | Tyres |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | SF1000 | 1’16.841 | 145 | C5 | |
2 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | AT01 | 1’17.066 | 0.225 | 139 | C5 |
3 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | RP20 | 1’17.118 | 0.277 | 130 | C3 |
4 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | FW43 | 1’17.313 | 0.472 | 160 | C5 |
5 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | MCL35 | 1’17.573 | 0.732 | 113 | C3 |
6 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB16 | 1’17.738 | 0.897 | 31 | C2 |
7 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | W11 | 1’17.985 | 1.144 | 47 | C3 |
8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | RS20 | 1’18.013 | 1.172 | 37 | C4 |
9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | VF-20 | 1’18.225 | 1.384 | 111 | C3 |
10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull | RB16 | 1’18.393 | 1.552 | 61 | C2 |
11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | RS20 | 1’18.395 | 1.554 | 59 | C3 |
12 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | C39 | 1’19.670 | 2.829 | 92 | C3 |
13 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W11 | 1’22.425 | 5.584 | 14 | C3 |
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2020 F1 season
- Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
James Neutron (@phillyspur)
27th February 2020, 17:21
Can the table be updated to include the tires those fastest times were run on?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
27th February 2020, 18:36
I can’t understand why mercedes did not change the PU? Early in the morning Bottas was smoking at least once, in the end of the morning Bottas reportedly notified the team that the car was not running well. Merc had about 1h30 before the beginning of the afternoon to rectify the problem. 14 laps afterwards Ham stops with a problem….
aezy_doc
27th February 2020, 19:02
Sometimes you don’t know where the line is until you cross it.
Andy
27th February 2020, 19:26
Exactly. You’ve got to laugh at these armchair team principles who are on the outside and think they know what is going on inside. :)
Andy
27th February 2020, 19:28
principals
grat
27th February 2020, 23:21
Was gonna say… this is F1. There are no principles. ;)
pSynrg (@psynrg)
27th February 2020, 20:05
Mercedes: OK, we’ve tested everything. Twice, at least, now what?
Ummmm….
I know! Let’s see how we break it…
CHIKANO (@chikano)
28th February 2020, 5:42
@psynrg
LoL – That would be the most logical explanation
German engineering at it’s finest
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
27th February 2020, 23:54
Its not looking good for Renault is it.
I’ve been loosely following their testing progress, their times can be best described as middling.
As long as Cyril in charge, I can’t see the team progressing. The man is living in an alternate reality. Just like everyone in F1, he is ambitious. Signing Danny Ric was a coup, but that was like a bit like putting the horse before the cart. Although Renault have made significant investment in Team Enstone, lets not forget the team was in dire straits before they took over. All the investment they made, probably brought the team back to a respectable level. Their performance on track was credit to their engineering and track side operations teams, and having Hulk chip away at every opportunity helped…but to think that they’ll finish on the podium let alone challenge for it this season, seems far fetched.
Cyril is starting to sound a bit like Eric Boullier during the latter days of his time at Mclaren…delirious
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
28th February 2020, 4:11
Mais oui … délirant.
I think that both he and Eric B. are French, no.?
Chaitanya
28th February 2020, 5:49
Bottas’s time from last week is still unbeaten and he did it on tyres a step harder than what Vettel did.
Robbie (@robbie)
28th February 2020, 14:08
Feels like this is the only time this season we’re going to read Vettel on top and Hamilton last.