Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Ferrari junior and sometime Sauber F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi set a new lap record on his way to topping the times in the opening day of Formula One mid season testing.
Taking to the track in Sebastian Vettel's podium finishing Ferrari at the Hungaroring today, Italian youngster Antonio Giovinazzi racked up a solid day of work for the Scuderia by posting a new circuit record laptime of 1:15.648, ending the first of day of testing quickest of all, over 2.5 seconds ahead of Sauber regular Marcus Ericsson and the Toro Rosso of Brandon Hartley in third.
Bolting on the fastest Ultrasoft tyres towards the end of a day of running that saw Giovinazzi clock an impressive 96 laps, the 24-year-old managed to pump in a time that eclipsed the previous record held by Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel by over half a second, Vettel himself only securing lap record holder accolades during FP3 last weekend.
Whilst Giovinazzi having a busy day behind the wheel of his Ferrari, it would be Brendon Hartley who proved the most robust of the drivers today, the Kiwi, fresh from a solid Grand Prix where points were a possibility last weekend managing a mammoth 126 laps of the twisty Hungaroring circuit, gaining valuable seat time and confidence on his way to third overall, eclipsing Red Bull stablemate Daniel Ricciardo in the sister team, the Australian himself having a busy run with 125 laps on the boards and sixth quickest time.
Proving to be a meat in the Red Bull owned team sandwich, British youngsters Lando Norris and George Russell would be fourth and fifth overall, both drivers getting some ever so rare seat time for the McLaren and Mercedes teams respectively.
Of the other drivers not usually seen in a Grand Prix car, Force India would be giving yet another run to Nicholas Latifi, the Canadian making the most of his latest opportunity to clock up a very respectable 103 lap total on his way to seventh in the final times.
Of an entirely less impressive nature, Sean Gelael would have something of a nightmare in the other Toro Rosso car. The Indonesian would be on Pirelli test duty today, however his running would be cut short following a high speed crash into the barriers at turn 11, necessitating considerable repairs to the car and wrapping the day early for the driver.
Just ahead of the ever unimpressive Gelael would be Williams youngster Oli Rowland, the British driver taking a very solid 65 lap total to ninth place, some 5.3 seconds away from the quickest time of the day.
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