Motorsports
Hamilton and Mercedes W13 fastest in Barcelona
The first of two three-day Formula One winter tests ended at the Monmelo circuit with a 1-2 Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell set the softest eraser (C5) and set the two fastest laps in the finale.
The Mercedes W13 shared by his two British drivers was followed by Sergio Perez with four tenths and Max Ferstappen with six tenths. They also shared the new Red Bull RB18. However, the Mexican had the instantly softer eraser than the Mercedes (C4), while the Dutchman didn’t have it at all – as he set his fastest lap with his hip (C3).
Russell, a replacement for Valteri Botas at Mercedes, set the fastest lap of the morning – before handing his car over to Hamilton after lunch. Tests followed on artificially wet asphalt for the appropriate Pirelli tires but in the end the track was dry and so Hamilton came out with the C5 discs in the final minutes to set the fastest lap.
This is how Mercedes and RBR reacted today to the encouraging performance shown by Ferrari and McLaren at the Spanish circuit over the past two days. In fact, the RBR seemed to solve yesterday’s gearbox problem as its two drivers completed 127 laps – as did Mercedes today’s 155.
From the Scuderia, Charles Leclerc was 7 tenths ahead of Hamilton today – but with the middle eraser. The fairest comparison is with Ferstappen, with whom they had the same tyres: the difference between the Dutchman and Monegasco was just 75 milliseconds.
As for McLaren, since it was in the top ten – even with the middle eraser – it seems to be turning to other programs today. Aston Martin entered the 5th year after a recent exit from Sebastian Vettel with the very soft rubber (C5), but on the contrary, things were not going well for Alpine at all.
Fernando Alonso had just completed 12 laps when a hydraulic leak in the Renault engine caused a fire in the rear of the A522. The French car was lost in a puff of smoke and as soon as it returned to the garage, engineers found that it could not be repaired in the few hours left until the end of the day.
The incident in Spain was followed by four more red flag stoppages today. Also with a fluid leak at Haas, Nikita Mazepin stopped on the track after 9 laps. Then, on his 40th lap, Pierre Gusli went off the track at Turn 5 and damaged the Alpha Tauri AT03.
After 48 laps, Vettel stopped the Aston Martin AMR22 on the track – also with a hydraulic leak. The final red flag was raised by Alfa Romeo debutant Guaniou Chou when the C42 encountered a problem immediately after leaving the pits.
So tonight in Barcelona ended the first three days of F1 teams gathering unprecedented experience and data from their brand new cars. Two hectic weeks of car data analysis and modifications follow before the second and final three days of testing in Bahrain on March 10-12. The first GP of 2022 will take place a week later, on March 18-20 in the same country.
BARCELONA TESTS 2022 – DAY 3
1.Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:19.138
2. Russel (Mercedes) +0.095
3. Pereth (Red Bull) +0.418
4. Ferstappen (Red Bull) +0.618
5. Vettel (Aston Martin) +0.686
6. Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.693
7.Ferrari +0.934
8. Albon (Williams) +1,180
9. Latifi (Williams) +1,561
10. Ricciardo (McLaren) +1,612
11. Norris (McLaren) +1,689
12. Alpine +2,104
13. Chow (Alfa Romeo) +2,801
14. Gasli (AlphaTauri) +3,331
15. Mazepin (Haas) +7,912
16. Boots (Alfa Romeo) +11,295
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.