Verstappen ends Catalunya test on top

2016 F1 season

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Max Verstappen headed the times at the end of the two-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The Spanish Grand Prix winner set thetime as Red Bull continued to evaluate Renault’s upgraded power unit. Kevin Magnussen was eighth-quickest in the works team’s car.

Stoffel Vandoorne continued McLaren’s productive test with over 100 laps in the MP4-31 and second-fastest time. Pascal Wehrlein stodd in for Esteban Ocon at Mercedes and ended the day third-quickest.

“The team called me yesterday evening as they couldn’t finish their test programme and needed an experienced driver to finish it off,” Wehrlein explained, “so I came back to the track to do a seat fitting that night.”

“We tried a few different set-ups during the morning – mainly looking at aerodynamic with the aero rig. Then we did some long runs in the afternoon, so a good programme.”

Ferrari ran test driver Antonio Fuoco, who previously drove for them during last year’s rain-hit test at the Red Bull Ring.

“The most complicated thing about an F1 car compared to the GP3 car I’m racing in the championship is managing the various procedures,” said the GP3 racer. “And the extra downforce makes it more demanding, so some training is useful.”

“Today, we worked on set-up, covering a bit of what Sebastian [Vettel] had done as a comparison.”

Pos.Car numberDriverTeamModelBest timeGapLaps
133Max VerstappenRed BullRB121’23.267118
247Stoffel VandoorneMcLarenMP4-311’22.0060.739108
323Pascal Wehrlein

MercedesW071’24.1450.878133
421Esteban GutierrezHaasVF-161’24.5921.325105
531Antonio FuocoFerrariSF16-H1’24.7201.453118
626Daniil KvyatToro RossoSTR111’24.7371.470116
734Alfonso CelisForce IndiaVJM091’25.0161.749103
820Kevin MagnussenRenaultRS161’25.1331.866122
919Felipe MassaWilliamsFW381’27.1673.90094
1042Jordan KingManorMRT051’27.6154.34891

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Verstappen ends Catalunya test on top”

  1. Smell good for Renault and RB. I bet Ferrari will start to look behind now.

  2. Stoffel did well, matching poll time! Haha

    1. Pole* kidding ofcourse, gotta be a mistake. Verstappen did good, really wonder how good that Renault upgrade is.

  3. Looks like a typo on Vandoorne’s time.

    1. Also thetime and EstebanOcon should be corrected @keithcollantine

    2. Yes, Vandoorne’s time should have been: 1’24.006.

  4. 1’21.267 for Max?

  5. Must be awesome for Pascal, he gets an almost direct comparison of the slowest and fastest car on track. Must be hard for him jumping back into a manor after driving a Mercedes
    I wonder how much one feels the performance difference when driving

    1. Could Mercedes be looking to pull a Red Bull and putting Pascal in the car used as a warning shot to both Merc Drivers?

      1. Secret back-to-back comparison with Rosberg who ran yesterday? Let the conspiracy begin!

      2. Yes! Put Haryanto in Mercedes and demote Hamilton!

        1. Lewisham Milton
          18th May 2016, 21:49

          That’ll stop them hitting each other.

          1. Michael Brown (@)
            18th May 2016, 23:50

            But what if they collide when Rosberg laps Hamilton?

      3. I read that they put Pascal on the car as a warning sign to Rosberg who is reportedly being hard on contract negotiations, hence Renault and Ferrari would like to count with him. For me this makes no sense at all, but there you have it, another conspiracy.

        1. I read that he’s asking to be on the same money as Hamilton @edmarques, tho I reckon that’s pure speculation.

          So it makes perfect sense to me for Merc to want a delta between Rosberg and Wehrlein. It must be a key factor for them. Young drivers are in fashion and it would solve a lot of problems. I don’t think it’s a warning sign.

        2. It well could be for negotiations, but no more.
          Rosberg’s strong points are car setup, consistency and pushing Hamilton.
          If they lose him Mercedes might get slower with both cars

        3. I wouldn’t call it conspiration theory really @edmarques, just classic tough negotiations. Rosberg lets the rumour of flirting with Ferrari out in the air, Mercedes call up Wehrlein and state that Alonso could be an option. In reality both would like to continue together but first the deal has to be done. It was a bit like that with the Hamilton contract negotiations too.

  6. Max will be fun to watch this year….a better engine and a ton of confidence from his win.

  7. ColdFly F1 (@)
    18th May 2016, 22:14

    Amazing its only a few days later, but it already feels business-as-usual to have MV top the timing-sheets.

  8. To the Max !
    18th May 2016, 22:18

    @Keith, where can I vote for test driver of the day ?…just kidding.

    Alls 4 drivers seem happy with the updated Renault engine which is nice to hear, let’s hope it also gives enough extra horsepower to keep up the fun at the front of the field.

  9. Why did Wehrlein stand in for Ocon? Wasn’t Ocon good enough for the job?

    1. Mercedes decided Wehrlein would be able to give better feedback. After all Wehrlein knows what Merc wants…

  10. Verstappen and Vandoorne in the first row, it looks like very well! :)

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