Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Tag

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas set the pace in the opening practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Charles by a narrow margin before an oil leak ended the Finn’s session early. After an early spell on medium tyres World Championship leader Bottas set his best lap of the 90 minutes on the C3 Pirelli compound nominated as this weekend’s soft tyre. He opened his account on the softs with a lap of 1:17.990s, but then shaved a little under four hundredths of a secondRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest on the second and final day of Formula 1’s first in-season test, edging Ferrari’s Antonio Giovinazzi by six hundredths of a second. The Finn set his quickest time of the day shortly before lunchtime, lapping the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in a time of 1:16.904. The lap, delivered on supersoft Pirelli tyres, capped a period in which he had traded fastest laps with Giovinazzi, though the Ferrari driver’s times were set on hypersoft tyres, two steps further along the softness scale of Pirelli’s compounds.Read More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the timesheet just three hundredths of a second ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz, as Formula 1’s first in-season test of 2018 got underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. Verstappen used hypersoft Pirelli tyres to set the best time of the day, a laps of 1:17.528s in the final hour of the session, pipping Sainz, who had bolted on the pink-banded tyres an hour earlier to climb to the top of the order. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended up third fastest with a timeRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Max Verstappen enjoyed a solid day at the office after successfully overcoming front wing damage to claim the final spot on the podium for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. The third-place result at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is easily his best performance of the 2018 Formula 1 season, which saw the 20-year-old Dutchman retire twice in the opening four races and only muster a previous best of fifth (Chinese Grand Prix). “I always feel quite good on this track and today has been a nice turning point afterRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace in Barcelona, topping the timesheet in final practice ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley brought he session to an early end with a heavy crash. With only a few minutes remaining in the session, Hartley got on the dirt beyond the kerb on the entry to the fast Turn 9 and his Toro Rosso immediately swapped end, sending him backwards across the gravel trap and hard into the barriers. While Hartley reportedRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Spanish Grand Prix marks Formula 1’s return to Europe after the early season fly away races. It also marks the first big round of updates the teams implement for their new cars. For many, it is when the season truly begins as Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is the benchmark for the teams to find their true place in the pecking order and see if they have moved ahead or fallen behind their rivals since they last visited Barcelona for pre-season testing. Ferrari has clearly had theRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the opening practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing more than eight tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and almost a second clear of third-placed Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes drivers’ dominance of the session was established early with Bottas using soft tyres to push into the 1m18s bracket. At that point the were backed up by Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, but the Australian wouldn’t figure in the session for much longer. With grip at the premium onRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team will hand the keys over to three junior drivers for the upcoming in-season test in Barcelona on May 15-16. The Silverstone-based squad will feature reserve driver Nicholas Latifi and development pilot Nikita Mazepin in one car. Mercedes junior driver George Russell will be in a second car and will provide help for Pirelli in part for tire development. The run will be Latifi’s first outing in the VJM11 after being pulled out of preseason testing in February due to illness.Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Romain Grosjean propelled Haas F1 Team to a new benchmark on the final day of preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The 31-year-old Frenchman completed 181 laps on Friday around the 2.892-mile, 16-turn road course – the most among the 12 drivers. The strong outing comes after teammate Kevin Magnussen posted the previous best a day prior with 153 total laps. The day’s activities left Grosjean with a remarkable 523.452 miles run, while also posting the fifth-best time at 1 minute, 18.412 seconds in the No.Read More

By FIA Kimi Räikkönen kept Ferrari on top of the timesheets as pre-season testing came to a close in Barcelona today, with the Finn using the hypersoft tyre to eclipse surprise second-place man Fernando Alonso by half a second. Third quickest was Renault driver Carlos Sainz. Ferrari ratcheted up the pace on the final two days of the test, with Sebastian Vettel yesterday claiming an unofficial circuit record with a lap of 1:17.182. And Räikkönen got close to that mark on the final day of testing, posting a 1:17.221 duringRead More