F1 Pre-Season Testing Day 4 - Business as Usual Up Front

[Paul Jeffrey]

Lewis Hamilton scored his first session ending top time at Barcelona today, sending out an ominous message to his 2018 Grand Prix rivals...

In somewhat better conditions than has been the case so far at Barcelona, it was left to reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton to set the fastest time of the first test sessions in F1 2018 today, stopping the clocks in an impressive 1:19.333 this afternoon after taking over the W09 from team mate Valtteri Bottas, who did much of the grunt work earlier in the day in colder and damp conditions.

All the more impressive from Hamilton and Mercedes would be the fact that his session topping time was achieved on the medium compound Pirelli tyres, something of an eye opening for the other teams who would often be seen circulating on super and hypersoft boots, potentially offering a first glimpse of the raw pace enjoyed by the silver arrows...

It would be another encouraging run for the McLaren Renault team once again as the new MLC33 proved both fast and reliable, Stoffel Vandoorne enjoying well over 100 laps of the Barcelona circuit on his way to second overall in the timesheets, providing yet more much needed good news for a team that has struggled badly these last few years under Honda power.

Sadly it would be much less of a positive story over at Red Bull, with Max Verstappen once again failing to record the amount of track time either driver or team would ideally like, blotting his copybook with a session stopping off later in the day. Verstappen would be blighted by long spells in the garage before eventually managing 35 tours of the circuit prior to his beaching the car in the gravel mid afternoon, drawing to a close what would be a difficult opening four days of the new Formula One season for Red Bull Racing.

Pre-season Test 2 continues on Tuesday.

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Looking forward to the new season? Do you think anything can be learnt from testing so far? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[ZePheR]

144 laps for Toro Rosso, nice reliability from Honda and Renault...Also Sauber is gonna be crap again, you can tell that already, even with the sandbagging.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

even with the sandbagging

What sandbagging

 

[Knoxstar]

Whoa still too early to tell. Some were running in the wetter morning like Bottas. Most are still running through their various programs

Sandbagging make zero sense though to me. This isn't GT racing with a BOP to factor so I don't see the gain of not pushing your car to qualy and race speeds.

Next week, weather permitting, should be a better indicator of speed and reliability but no way to know fuel loads so will be open to interpretation.

 

[shimon.ifraimov]

i wonder if mercedes improved on the tight corners.

 

[apex11]

What sandbagging

Well it doesn't matter if they sandbag or not the end result is the same. Anyone thinking it won't be business as usual for Merc are kidding themselves.

 

[Enagee]

Soo quiet on this page ....Wonder why? Silence of the Lambs

 

[wombat999]

And the weather will get worse!
Sandbagging?
It might even come to this as the circuit becomes flooded.

 

[Motowntom]

And the engineering... oops...racing parade begins, how boring.
Cheers

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

I think the word "ominous" should be banned.