Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel clocked the quickest lap on the penultimate day of Formulation one preseason testing on Thursday, whereas Lewis Hamilton’s session was reduce brief by mechanical problem.
Hamilton’s Mercedes got here to a cease on the monitor on the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, bringing out a pink flag and inflicting the six-time champion to overlook the day’s closing two hours of operating.
Mercedes mentioned the stoppage was attributable to an “oil stress anomaly” that they are going to examine.
“Testing didn’t fairly go to plan at this time however we’ll come again higher and stronger tomorrow,” Hamilton wrote on Twitter.
Valtteri Bottas was behind the wheel of the Mercedes within the morning session. Hamilton took over after lunch and solely managed 14 laps earlier than he needed to name it quits.
“It’s irritating when there’s solely six days of winter testing, to be spending half of at some point within the storage,” Mercedes technical director James Allison mentioned.
Best Lap
Sebastian Vettel posted a flying lap of 1 minute, 16.841 seconds, one of the best time for him or Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc over 5 days of testing.
Bottas has clocked the quickest time of any driver within the preseason to date with a lap of 1 minute, 15.732 seconds.
Rain fell early however the solar emerged and made for higher racing situations.
“This was a superb day,” Vettel mentioned. “Having mentioned that, I don’t suppose at this time’s instances imply a lot, as a result of, out of the 5 days of testing we now have completed right here to date, at this time’s monitor situations had been undoubtedly the worst.”
Vettel is aware of how misleading speeds at testing might be. Final 12 months, Ferrari was the quickest within the preseason, solely to be blown away by Mercedes as soon as the true racing started.
“We received’t actually get a transparent image till Melbourne, however possibly not even there, on condition that the monitor is fairly distinctive,” the four-time former champion mentioned.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly had within the day’s second quickest lap after Vettel, adopted by Lance Stroll for Racing Level.
Nicholas Latifi had the fifth greatest time and put in probably the most laps with 160.
Max Verstappen introduced out one other pink flag when he misplaced management of his Purple Bull and ended up within the gravel.
Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi additionally brought about the operating to be quickly halted after he spun off and put the again of his automotive within the barrier, damaging its rear wing.
Testing concludes on Friday.
The season-opening Australian GP is on March 15.
