BARCELONA TEST – Lewis Hamilton reportedly fastest by a tenth and a half\]
Lewis Hamilton was reported to be fastest on the final day of the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, the Ferrari driver reportedly set a 16.348. Ferrari have sounded positivity through out the press reports on Friday with Fred Vassure describing it as ‘a very good first step.’
Ferrari goes into this year already under pressure, given a dismal 2025, and Hamilton having one of the worst seasons of his career. Hamilton set the fastest time of the test as he went a tenth quicker than George Russell’s fastest time, and that came in the final hour, moving him ahead of Lando Norris by a quarter of a tenth and Max Verstappen.
But Hamilton’s time was on the softest (C6) tyre which can only be described as a ‘glory run’ for Hamilton; he did it following a late switch to soft tyres on Friday to follow up from a promising morning for teammate Charles Leclerc. Leclerc topped the morning times, going nearly a tenth and a half ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Vasseur said: “Overall, it’s a positive session [week]. We had both conditions – wet at the beginning and dry at the end. We covered tonnes of laps all over the week, which is good. It’s good to put 160 laps on the board each day.”
“This is important in order to collect data and prepare for Bahrain in the best conditions. It’s a very early stage, and the most important [thing] is to complete laps.”
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. But the big headline for the majority of the test has been reliability, given the regulation changes.
Piastri’s only full day off running on Thursday was cut short because of a fuel issue. He said, “Nice to get some good laps on the board this morning, much smoother day than the first two we’ve had, so that was nice. I got into a pretty good rhythm and was able to start to feel what the car’s actually like, which was nice.”
Lap times don’t matter at this test, it’s only when we get to qualifying in Melbourne in six weeks that things will become clear. Mercedes, however top the mileage having completed running on Thursday with over five hundred laps, seven and a half race distances in Barcelona.
But for Mercedes, this was a huge success across themselves, McLaren and Alpine; they have completed around 1,000 laps on the power unit, around 34,500 miles. Ferrari engine clocked up the second most mileage, with the Red Bull Ford Powertrain in third, with Max Verstappen behind the wheel on Friday.
McLaren also had a solid day of mileage, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri combining for 166 laps between them, while a quarter of a second slower than Hamilton’s — the usual caveats apply.
Verstappen’s best time from his sixty-nine lap stint was 18.285, as Red Bull returned to the track for the first time since Tuesday. Others to have run on Friday include Haas, Audi, Cadillac and Aston Martin, the latter of which only contested the final two days of this week’s shakedown.
According to ESPN, Verstappen was just over a tenth faster than Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, six tenths off.
Aston Martin never looked like it was chasing lap times, with a blue flashing light on the back of its car to indicate to rival teams its car was not driving at full power as it ran in lower engine modes.
Ferrari will certainly take heart from the SF-26’s strong apparent early reliability. Having completed almost 300 laps across the car’s opening two days on track, Leclerc and Hamilton combined to add 145 more to their tally on Friday – taking the team’s overall count for the week to 440.
Its costumer team Haas also had a strong final day, with Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon managed a 195 laps, edging towards three race distances.
Nico Hulkenberg was sixth according to ESPN, the Audi driver a second and a half behind Ocon as he went nine tenths faster than Fernando Alonso. While Sergio Perez was a tenth and a quarter behind.
Teams will regroup in twelve-day’s time in Bahrain for the first ‘official test’, where we will be able to see the cars for the first time on track.
Related
- BARCELONA TEST – George Russell fastest on Day Four, as Mercedes look to be the team to beat
- 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