Leclerc keeps Ferrari on top in F1 pre-season testing
BARCELONA: New recruit Charles Leclerc kept Ferrari on top of the timesheets with a full race distance before lunchtime on the second day of Formula One’s pre-season testing in Spain on Tuesday.
After team mate Sebastian Vettel led the way on Monday with the fastest time and most laps, Kimi Raikkonen’s 21-yearold replacement slotted in seamlessly with a time not far off the German’s best.
The Monegasque produced a best time of one minute 18.247 seconds and did 73 laps, compared with Vettel’s Monday 1:18.161 and 72 laps, in partially cloudy conditions and an ambient temperature of 14 degrees Celsius.
Five times world champion Lewis Hamilton, working through the Mercedes testing programme, did one more lap than Leclerc however.
Ferrari’s times have been quicker than anything from last year’s weather-affected first four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Rule changes, with new aerodynamic regulations, were expected to make the cars around 1.5 seconds a lap slower. But the evidence so far has been that much of the lost time has been regained.
By the time the season starts in Australia on March 17 cars can be expected to be going even faster, but Pirelli’s F1 tyre boss Mario Isola cautioned that the picture might be distorted.
He said the asphalt had been new for testing last year, with a very smooth surface that had evolved further. “I believe the influence of the Tarmac is higher, and the (warmer) temperature is playing a big effect. We know that,” he told reporters. Ferrari-powered Haas were second fastest, with Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen taking his turn and producing a best lap of 1:19.234. In terms of mileage, Red Bull did the third most with Frenchman Pierre Gasly putting in 69 laps.