F1 Test 2: Day 2 - McLaren Fastest... Again!

Paul Jeffrey · Feb 27, 2019

McLaren Renault had another very positive day in Barcelona today - Carlos Sainz matching yesterdays efforts of Lando Norris to set fastest time for the British squad.

Showing some encouraging signs of recovery following a difficult few years with first Honda and more recently Renault power, the second week of pre-season testing for the McLaren team started with something of a bang, Carlos Sainz Jr. clocking an impressive 130 laps to record the fastest time of the day overall, matching the feat achieved by young teammate Lando Norris during Tuesday's running at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.

Not only would Sainz take fastest time today, but the Spanish driver also takes the honours of having recorded the fastest time in pre-season testing so far - leading to some encouraging signs that McLaren may be about to turn a corner and recover some of the gradually decreasing form for the once dominant British team.

Testing today would be a busy affair for many of those present at the cold Barcelona circuit, with McLaren, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Williams’ Robert Kubica all manging to break that magic 100 lap marker, which just goes to show how impressive the reliability of the modern generation of Formula One car is in 2019.

Sadly for Ferrari, reliability wouldn't be so great today, with an as yet unspecified front end failure leading Sebastian Vettel to have a sizable off into the barriers early in the session. Despite a trip to the circuit medical centre the Ferrari driver would be uninjured in the accident, but substantial damage caused to the SF90 would result in Ferrari having to sit out much of the running, managing just 40 laps before the accident for Vettel, and a single exploratory lap for team mate Leclerc in the final few minutes of the session.

Testing resumes tomorrow.

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Isaac Chavira · Feb 27, 2019

ORANGE POWER!

Koen Verlinde · Feb 27, 2019

Alonso did a quali of 1 17 7 last year at Barcelona. That means Sainz went 0.6 seconds quicker than one of the most highly regarded F1 drivers of the last 2 decades in a pre-season test.

At the same time he would still be 1.0 second of the pole of last year.

I heard 2019 F1 would be slower, much slower than last year cause of this aero loss I hear about. The same aero loss that has been happening every few years since as long as I can remember. The same aero loss that had almost never has had any impact on F1 whatsoever.

Deleted member 205301 · Feb 27, 2019

Koen Verlinde said:
Alonso did a quali of 1 17 7 last year at Barcelona. That means Sainz went 0.6 seconds quicker than one of the most highly regarded F1 drivers of the last 2 decades in a pre-season test.

hum...in fact, that means that 2019'car is not the 2018'one....

@++

michelforest · Feb 27, 2019

The Renault engine is rumoured to be more powerful this year. Maybe this has to do with the good pace of the McLaren.

If McLaren improves, the middle of the grid will be very crowded this season: Renault, McLaren, Toro Rosso, Alfa Romeo, Haas, Racing Point... Qualifying with be very interesting!

farjam · Feb 27, 2019

Tyre info:

BP · Feb 27, 2019

Good on Mclaren for hopefully recovering lost ground, as I really want to see more than 2 or 3 teams challenge for the podium

...but I still doubt they'll be strong enough to for that this year. Look up the first week's results; I doubt Ferrari and Mercedes have been testing for flat out speed yet...they're about 7/10ths off Sainz's time and that was on Medium tyres compared to Sainz and Norris on Softs.

The real show will come when there's actually points on the line.

Sythendrius · Feb 27, 2019

Uh oh Alonso must be furious.

Jonathan Young · Feb 28, 2019

I’m highly skeptical but if Mclaren are anywhere near the front, I’ll be delighted

tonio duran · Feb 28, 2019

:llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::llorar::enojado::enojado::enojado::enojado::enojado::enojado::enojado:

callumjtc · Feb 28, 2019

Koen Verlinde said:
Alonso did a quali of 1 17 7 last year at Barcelona. That means Sainz went 0.6 seconds quicker than one of the most highly regarded F1 drivers of the last 2 decades in a pre-season test.

At the same time he would still be 1.0 second of the pole of last year.

I heard 2019 F1 would be slower, much slower than last year cause of this aero loss I hear about. The same aero loss that has been happening every few years since as long as I can remember. The same aero loss that had almost never has had any impact on F1 whatsoever.

Finally! Someone else compared with the quali times! I do think these cars are a bit slower, but last year's Mclaren was so flawed that it just wouldn't work properly from an aero standpoint. Therefore, I think Mclaren are in a good shape to be 4th or 5th fastest (I hope)

Fat-Alfie · Feb 28, 2019

michelforest said:
The Renault engine is rumoured to be more powerful this year. Maybe this has to do with the good pace of the McLaren.

If McLaren improves, the middle of the grid will be very crowded this season: Renault, McLaren, Toro Rosso, Alfa Romeo, Haas, Racing Point... Qualifying with be very interesting!

You missed out Red Bull

snyperal · Feb 28, 2019

Fingers crossed for Mclaren and Norris. It would be typical of Alonso's career to date if suddenly they have a performing car again...

Terry Rock · Feb 28, 2019

I think everybody has been forced to step up their game this season.
It should be an interesting season based on the performance delta of the mid-pack teams so far.

farjam · Feb 28, 2019

Day 3

Lulu's lap is very impressive , it is their first competitive lap that i see so far , the fastest lap with C2 in the whole pre season testing before lulu's lap was a 1:18:344 by leclerc , i think they want to use mathematics to calculate their fastest lap on c4 and c5 tyre (one step softer could worth 0.4s to 0.7s and they set this 1:18:097 on 3x harder tyre)rather than doing it on track , or doing their fastest lap with large amount of fuel and then convert their time to low fuel situation mathematically. i think they have way more less confidence in their progress this season and it's not only sandbagging...

edit: it seems leclerc in the morning session did a much faster lap than lewis on C2 , 1m17.253s on c2 for leclerc ,wow , for me it's the super lap of the pre season test so far