Strong start puts Vettel and Ferrari in charge in Barcelona!

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari topped the time-sheet at lunch time on the first day of pre-season testing a the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

The German put 72 laps under his belt, the most of any driver, and enjoyed over a 1.6s advantage over Racing point’s Sergio Perez, while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was third, almost two second adrift from Vettel.

Pre-season test Day 1 – lunchtime

Pos Driver Team Time Laps Tyre

1
Vettel
Ferrari
1:18.161
72
C3

2
Perez
Racing Point
1:19.944
20
C3

3
Bottas
Mercedes
1:20.127
69
C3

4
Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo
1:20.160
46
C3

5
Verstappen
Red Bull
1:20.174
52
C3

6
Sainz
McLaren
1:20.430
56
C3

7
Hulkenberg
Renault
1:20.980
65
C3

8
Grosjean
Haas
1:21.500
18
C3

9
Kvyat
Toro Rosso
1:21.732
35
C3

Williams

Teams kicked off pre-season testing under a clear blue sky but with crisp and cold temperatures, with the Circuit de Catalunya basking in just 6 degrees Celsius.

Cars took to the track sporting their usual array of testing sensors and ‘cheese graters’ as the start of the day was devoted to collecting data collecting.

Ferrari’s SF90 in particular – with Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel – was fitted out with an impressive amount of evaluation equipment.

Shortly into the session, Kimi Raikkonen brought out the first red flag of the day when the Iceman beached his Alfa Romeo in the gravel at Turn 5, fortunately with no damage to his car which was quickly put on a flatbed and brought back to its garage.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas clocked in some early times in the mid 1.24 range, but Vettel quickly overhauled the Finn, the Ferrari driver eventually shaving four seconds off that time.

Red Bull enjoyed a quiet start to 2019, the Honda-powered Rb15 with max Verstappen onboard only undertaking installation laps 90 minutes into the session.

Almost two hours in, a second red flag was brought out courtesy of Romain Grosjean’s Haas stopping just before the chicane as a result of a fuel pressure issue.

F1 is up and running – the first pictures from Barcelona!

Up front, Vettel continued to rake in the laps and improve his speed, the German descending into the 1.18s, followed by an impressive Sergio Perez at the wheel of Racing Point’s RP19, and Bottas, with all drivers setting their times on Pirelli’s soft C2 tyre.

Vettel was the first man to put 50 laps under his belt. Relentless, his tally reached 72 when the session ended for lunch.

Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault and McLaren also topped 50 laps in the opening four hours of pre-season testing.

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