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 number | Driver | Team | Model | Best time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB12 | 1’23.267 | 118 | |
2 | 47 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | MP4-31 | 1’22.006 | 0.739 | 108 |
3 | 23 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes | W07 | 1’24.145 | 0.878 | 133 |
4 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | VF-16 | 1’24.592 | 1.325 | 105 |
5 | 31 | Antonio Fuoco | Ferrari | SF16-H | 1’24.720 | 1.453 | 118 |
6 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | STR11 | 1’24.737 | 1.470 | 116 |
7 | 34 | Alfonso Celis | Force India | VJM09 | 1’25.016 | 1.749 | 103 |
8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | RS16 | 1’25.133 | 1.866 | 122 |
9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | FW38 | 1’27.167 | 3.900 | 94 |
10 | 42 | Jordan King | Manor | MRT05 | 1’27.615 | 4.348 | 91 |
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Pyon (@pyon)
18th May 2016, 18:14
Smell good for Renault and RB. I bet Ferrari will start to look behind now.
Gillian
18th May 2016, 18:15
Stoffel did well, matching poll time! Haha
Gillian
18th May 2016, 18:16
Pole* kidding ofcourse, gotta be a mistake. Verstappen did good, really wonder how good that Renault upgrade is.
Mike (@grippgoat)
18th May 2016, 18:33
Looks like a typo on Vandoorne’s time.
Patrick (@paeschli)
18th May 2016, 19:11
Also thetime and EstebanOcon should be corrected @keithcollantine
Cyber
18th May 2016, 19:24
Yes, Vandoorne’s time should have been: 1’24.006.
ckang (@iketeru)
18th May 2016, 20:16
1’21.267 for Max?
sm
18th May 2016, 20:18
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
Jimmy Price
18th May 2016, 20:22
Could Mercedes be looking to pull a Red Bull and putting Pascal in the car used as a warning shot to both Merc Drivers?
HK (@me4me)
18th May 2016, 20:50
Secret back-to-back comparison with Rosberg who ran yesterday? Let the conspiracy begin!
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
18th May 2016, 21:00
Yes! Put Haryanto in Mercedes and demote Hamilton!
Lewisham Milton
18th May 2016, 21:49
That’ll stop them hitting each other.
Michael Brown (@)
18th May 2016, 23:50
But what if they collide when Rosberg laps Hamilton?
Ed Marques (@edmarques)
18th May 2016, 21:29
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.
lockup (@)
18th May 2016, 23:38
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.
Yuriy
19th May 2016, 3:45
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
BasCB (@bascb)
19th May 2016, 6:24
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.
josh
18th May 2016, 21:10
Max will be fun to watch this year….a better engine and a ton of confidence from his win.
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.
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.
Jimmy J (@jimmyj)
19th May 2016, 7:37
Why did Wehrlein stand in for Ocon? Wasn’t Ocon good enough for the job?
Maddme
19th May 2016, 13:47
Mercedes decided Wehrlein would be able to give better feedback. After all Wehrlein knows what Merc wants…
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
20th May 2016, 0:23
Verstappen and Vandoorne in the first row, it looks like very well! :)