BARCELONA TEST – George Russell fastest on Day Four, as Mercedes look to be the team to beat
Day four of the Barcelona test saw Aston Martin finally manage to briefly get on track, and McLaren running cut short. Oscar Piastri took over running from world champion Lando Norris, managing forty-eight laps less than a race distance and a hundred less than Wednesday because of a fuel systems problem.
After delivering highly productive efforts on Monday and Wednesday, Mercedes used the last of the three days they are permitted to run at the five-day event to amass another impressive lap count at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Between them, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell completed around two and a half race distances.
Mercedes, even at this very early stage in the year, has underlined their predicted status as favourites with extremely smooth running. Russell set the fastest time of the test so far, a 16.445, more than half a second clear of his teammate, and almost two seconds ahead of any other car.
According to ESPN, Norris was just under two seconds off Russell, with the McLaren a tenth and a half ahead of Arvid Lindblad.
This test is being run behind closed doors, meaning reporting of this test has been heavily restricted as it’s a private test organised by the teams with no media access, timing or TV coverage, so we are reliant on teams giving us the information.
McLaren’s lap total was just forty-eight, a hundred less than Mercedes and Ferrari. Piastri said, “Unfortunately, a few issues today. We had a fuel systems issue which cut our day a bit short, but I know the team is working really hard to get that fixed and get us back out for as many laps as we can tomorrow.”
Though a quarter of the way through testing its too early to read too much into the lap times, Mercedes look to be further ahead in their programme on the penultimate day in Barcelona.
It was also another strong day for Ferrari, completing a similar amount of running to Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc completing more than a race distance. In Leclerc’s hand they were behind the Mercedes duo, as the Monacan went third during the afternoon.
Hamilton said after his morning run that Ferrari were doing “better” than in last year’s pre-season testing and that the eighty-five laps he managed on Thursday was an “amazing” feat. The two leading teams led the way on the unofficial timesheet.
Also out on track were Cadillac and Racing Bulls, with the latter becoming the only team other than Mercedes to use up their allotted running time ahead of the final day of the event on Friday.
Aston Martin finally got out with an hour on the clock, managing a few laps, before Lance Stroll stopped on track, bringing out the red flag and ending the day’s running.
Isack Hadjar’s crash on Tuesday meant Red Bull lost one of there possible days, but they hope to be back up and running on Friday. Max Verstappen is among those expected to drive on Friday.
Friday will be the last day of the test, which has been behind closed doors before the two-week break before the Sakhir Tests, which will have TV coverage.
Related
- BARCELONA TEST – Kimi Antonelli reportedly fastest by three-quarters of a second on Day Three
- BARCELONA TEST – Red Bull and Ferrari take to the track on the second day of shake down
- BARCELONA TEST – George Russell or Isack Hadjar reportedly fastest on the opening day of private testing
- PRIXVIEW – Barcelona Test