Kimi Raikkonen posted the fastest time on a track artificially soaked to test wet conditions as an electrical fault brought Lewis Hamilton’s first week of testing to a premature end yesterday.
Raikkonen’s best time of 1min 20.872 in his Ferrari came late in the day in Barcelona as the track dried out after trucks dumped water on the surface overnight and again during the lunch break. Three-time world champion Hamilton didn’t even get out of the Mercedes garage as an electrical fault prevented him from running as scheduled during the morning session.
“Electrical fault kept us in the garage this morning, so I’ve decided with the team not to drive today as I wouldn’t have learned much,” Hamilton posted on his Twitter account.
“Shame not to drive but it’s been a great few days. The guys have done an awesome job. Can’t wait to be back in the car next week!”
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas did manage to run in the afternoon, but was way down the timesheets in eighth fastest for his 68 laps.
However, Bottas’ time of 1min 19.705sec on Wednesday remained the fastest of the week.
In a recurring theme over the first few days of pre-season testing, Red Bull were the best of the rest behind Ferrari and Mercedes as Dutch wonder kid Max Verstappen was second fastest.
British driver Jolyon Palmer was third quickest for Renault.
The beleaguered McLaren-Honda team had a more positive day in terms of mileage as Belgian rookie Stoffel Vandoorne completed 67 laps, but F1’s fallen giants remain well off the pace of those at the front of the grid.
Williams also called an early end to their first test after damage suffered to the FW40 in rookie Lance Stroll’s crash on Wednesday.
“A second chassis will be prepared at track this afternoon, as originally planned, with the team aiming to be back on track for the second test next week,” Williams said in a statement.
The second and final four-day test before the season opening Grand Prix in Australia also takes place in Barcelona from March 7-10.
Hamilton, clear title favourite after the retirement of Mercedes team mate and champion Nico Rosberg, on Wednesday said overtaking could be even more of a problem than it was before.
“Now the turbulence is easily twice as powerful from the car, coming out of the back of the car,” he told reporters after three days of testing, with Mercedes doing more laps and going faster than any of their rivals.
“So that just magnifies the issue we had before.
“Let’s hope the racing’s fantastic, but don’t hold your breath, I’d say.”
The testing time set by Hamilton’s new team mate Valtteri Bottas on Wednesday would have put the Finn on pole at the Spanish Grand Prix in any year since the Circuit de Catalunya changed layout in 2007.
Hamilton, who had concentrated mainly on putting on mileage, said the performance was “amazing” in terms of the speed carried through corners.
“It definitely is the fastest that I have ever driven in Formula One,” said the 32-year-old, who made his debut with McLaren in 2007. “We’re flat (out) in corners that we’ve never been before.
“I hope that it splits the men from the boys,” he said of the physical challenges the cars impose on drivers with the fatter tyres and revised aerodynamics subjecting them to increased G-forces through corners.
The greater downforce means drivers no longer have to brake into some corners, allowing them to go through without even lifting. “In actual fact we are slower on the straights but it’s how late and deep you can brake into the corners, it’s how quick you can get back to the gas, how you are able to take the corners flat out easily,” said Hamilton.
“It’s quite unreal. It’s amazing. I’m coming through some of these corners...and I’m like a kid on a roller-coaster ride because it’s so much better than it was before. But following is not good.”
He said it was great that Formula One had made changes but engineers had warned of the consequences.
“Following is not easy. It’s worse to follow another car,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know how that’s going to play out in an actual race when there’s lots of cars.”
That may not be so much of a problem for Hamilton, whose Mercedes looks so quick that he can expect to start from the front.
He smiled: “That’s the plan.”



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