Formula One: 2016 Barcelona 1st Test Recap

The 2016 challengers for the Formula One World Championship turned their first wheels in anger around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for one of two pre-season tests ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. While the whole picture can be gleaned from testing, we probably did somethings in terms of pace and reliability.

Day 1 (February 22)

Much like last season, Ferrari was fastest out of the blocks but Mercedes demonstrated a lot of reliability. Hamilton ran 156 laps which is over two race distances on the first day of running. Speaking of reliability, Jenson Button ran 84 laps which was 5th most on the day and a considerable improvement on the prior year for McLaren Honda.

Haas F1 ran the fewest laps of the day with only 31. It was six fewer than Renault though Romain Grosjean was one second faster than Jolyon Palmer.

Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari – 1:24.939
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:25.409
Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull – 1:26.044
Valtteri Bottas – Williams – 1:26.091
Alfonso Celis – Force India – 1:26.298
Jenson Button – McLaren – 1:26.735
Carlos Sainz – Toro Rosso – 1:27.180
Marcus Ericsson – Sauber – 1:27.555
Pascal Wehrlein – Manor – 1:28.292
Romain Grosjean – Haas – 1:28.399
Jolyon Palmer – Renault – 1:29.356

Day 2 (February 23)

The second day was noteworthy for a couple of reasons. The new Pirelli ultra-softs (Pirelli’s new purple-sidewalled tyres) were run for the first time on a 2016 Formula One car. Sebastian Vettel set his fastest time of the day on ultra-softs which was eight-tenths faster than Sergio Perez who was the fastest on super-softs.

The other noteworthy story today was that all but Renault ran longer than a race distance, including newcomers Haas. Jolyon Palmer had an engine failure which resulted in only 42 laps run. Nico Rosberg, on the other hand, logged 172 laps which is just over two-and-a-half race distances.

Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari – 1:22.810
Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull – 1:23.525
Sergio Perez – Force India – 1:23.650
Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:24.867
Marcus Ericsson – Sauber – 1:25.237
Esteban Gutierrez – Haas – 1:25.524
Valtteri Bottas – Williams – 1:25.648
Pascal Wehrlein – Manor – 1:25.925
Fernando Alonso – McLaren – 1:26.082
Jolyon Plamer – Renault – 1:26.189
Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso – 1:26.539

Day 3 (February 24)

While the new Haas VF-16 might be a little conservative compared to the other cars on the grid, it does seem to have some pace. Romain Grosjean took it to second-fastest on soft tyres. He was outpaced by the Force India of Hulkenberg who set his quick time on the super-softs.

Rio Haryanto made his Formula One debut for Manor, making him the first Indonesian F1 driver. He was the slowest on the day by nearly 1.3 seconds as he learned the ropes of his new MRT05. After two days of solid running, McLaren faltered today with only 51 laps run on the day.

Nico Hulkenberg – Force India – 1:23.110
Romain Grosjean – Haas – 1:25.874
Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1:25.977
Kevin Magnussen – Renault – 1:26.014
Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:26.084
Carlos Sainz – Toro Rosso – 1:26.239
Felipe Nasr – Sauber – 1:26.392
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:26.421
Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull – 1:26.497
Felipe Massa – Williams – 1:26.712
Jenson Button – McLaren – 1:26.919
Rio Haryanto – Manor – 1:28.249

Day 4 (February 25)

Much like the second day’s running, Ferrari and Red Bull were fastest on the power of ultra-soft tyres. Like the second day, Ferrari was eight-tenths faster than the Red Bull showing their raw speed advantage. Mercedes continued with their reliability program that saw Rosberg set his fast time on medium compound tyres.

Meanwhile, McLaren’s strong start to testing fell into a return to form. A coolant leak resulted in Fernando Alonso being limited to three laps and no time logged.

Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1:23.477
Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull – 1:24.293
Alfonso Celis – Force India – 1:24.840
Kevin Magnussen – Renault – 1:25.263
Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso – 1:25.393
Felipe Nasr – Sauber – 1:26.053
Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:26.187
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:26.295
Felipe Massa – Williams – 1:26.483
Esteban Gutierrez – Haas – 1:27.802
Rio Haryanto – Manor – 1:28.266
Fernando Alonso – McLaren – No Time

No Mercedes wasn’t the fastest team at the test but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still ahead of everyone else. They ran over 1,000 km more than any other team at the test. That’s some three race distances more than any other team there. Four teams actually ran less than half of what Mercedes did.

The big surprise on the week was that Haas F1 isn’t completely out of their depth. They ran more miles than McLaren and Manor and had the 7th fastest time among the ten teams that brought their 2016 cars (Sauber ran their 2015 challenger). They might not be destined for an 11th row lockout just yet.

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