First day of pre-season testing action starts on Monday, 27 February, as the more exciting, and very different cars make their debut at the Circuit de Catalunya, with Sebastian Vettel who will be at the wheel of the SF70H, Scuderia Ferrari’s car for the new season.
The new Formula One cars should be up to five seconds a lap faster, more dramatic and more demanding of the drivers, but for the moment the lap times will probably not be completely relevant, as each team has its own plans and testing programme that may not be focused on the best performance of the car.
Stay tuned for live commentary and trackside updates from the Circuit de Catalunya, as Sebastian Vettel will begin Scuderia Ferrari’s testing programme.
10:00 Good morning from the Circuit de Catalunya! Here we go – Day One of 2017 Winter Testing has arrived!
10:03 Hulkenberg, Massa, Bottas, Ericsson and Magnussen immediately take to the track in the Renault, Williams, Mercedes, Sauber and Haas cars
10:06 Sebastian Vettel is out on the track for his installation lap!
10:20 Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull makes his first foray out on track.
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10:37 Sebastian puts down a lap time of 1:24.748
10:40 Solid start to 2017 testing for Scuderia Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel now down at 1:23.560 on his eighth lap of this run in the Ferrari SF70-H.
10: 50 Here is Sebastian in action!
Fezza#F1Testing pic.twitter.com/MBsVgxBfTs
— Simon (@publogic) February 27, 2017
10:55 Nearly an hour into F1 testing and 2017 has its first red flag. Ricciardo’s Red Bull stops at turn 4.
11:08 Green flag! Sebastian, Bottas and Hulkenberg straight back out.
11:15 Sebastian Vettel is the first to do 15 laps in this session!
11:24: Laps completed so far: Vettel 18, Bottas 16, Hulkenberg 10, Ricciardo 4, Magnussen 3, Ericsson 3, Perez 3, Massa 2, Sainz 2, Alonso 1
11:35: Track temperature is now 22,8°C. Air temperature 12°C. Felipe Massa goes third with a lap time of 1:26.788
11:41 Force India and Sergio Perez have the track to themselves as we approach the end of the second hour
11:50 We are yet to see flying laps from Magnussen, Sainz, Ericsson and Alonso. Bottas goes fastest with 1:23.370
12:00 Bad start for McLaren, who have an oil leak issue and are forced to remain in the garage
12:09 Bottas (Mercedes) is now lapping in the low 1:24s having hit 35 laps for the day so far.
12:10 Kevin Magnussen pulls to one side at the end of the pit lane as the mechanics go to wheel him back to the garage.
12:18 Facts and statistics: last year’s best time at the end of day 1 of testing was 1m24.939, set by Sebastian Vettel.
12:27 Sergio Perez takes the Force India for a spin, while Carlos Sainz is now 3.356 seconds off the pace.
12:35 Sebastian Vettel is the only driver on the track at the moment.
12:40 Sebastian managed to set the fastest sector one of the day on his lap, but was unable to convert the second and third sector into an overall improved lap time.
12:46 Valtteri Bottas lowers his own benchmark to 1:23.169, once again on the soft tyres
13:00 Valtteri Bottas registers his 50th lap of pre-season testing
13:06 Sauber have decent mileage from their first day, and Ericsson’s about to add to that by venturing out onto the circuit.
13:08 Sebastian heads out for another run with the SF70H!
13:11 Sebastian goes fastest again, with a lap time of 1:22.791!
13:19 Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel are currently the only drivers on the track
13:24 Massa pits and Sebastian is now the only man on track
13:38 Sergio Perez brings Force India back to within one second of the pace.
13:49 Sebastian is back out and falls a few thousandths away from his best lap time. He sets the fastest sector one time of all though, but yet again is just not enough to beat his previous best.
13:53 Magnussen hits and wall and looses his front wing, but makes it back in the pits.
13:55 Four cars currently on track: Marcus Ericsson (who improves to a 1:27.648), Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.
14:00 The chequered flag waves for the lunch break! Vettel ends the first half of the day as the fastest driver!
14:00 Lunchtime Day One Timesheet: 1) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 62 laps; medium tyres, 1:22.791; 2) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 79 laps, soft tyres, 1:23.169; 3) Sergio Perez, Force India, 39 laps, 1:23.709; 4) Felipe Massa, Williams, 39 laps, 1:25.552; 5) Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 18 laps, 1:25.562; 6) Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 22 laps, 1:26.319; 7) Kevin Magnussen, Haas, 15 laps 1:26.404; 8) Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 32 laps, 1:26.865; 9) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 4 laps, 1:28.712; 10) Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1 lap, No time;
15:00 The afternoon session begins!
15:10 Red Bull Racing are the first to leave the pits, after the problems during the morning session
15:15 McLaren are still expected to run in the afternoon, but not after the power unit has been replaced.
15:23 Nico Hulkenberg sets an improved time for the Renault team – 1:25.972 – medium tyres.
15:24 Lap count on Day One so far:
Mercedes – 79 laps
Ferrari – 62 laps
Force India – 39 laps
Williams – 39 laps
Sauber – 34 laps
Renault – 27 laps
Toro Rosso – 18 laps
Haas – 15 laps
Red Bull – 8 laps
McLaren – 1 lap
15:30 Carlos Sainz is out setting lap times for Toro Rosso. Kevin Magunssen also coming out now, both join Ericsson on the Spanish track
15:34 Lewis Hamilton makes his first appearance of the afternoon for Mercedes
15:37 Sebastian Vettel is still in the pits, as Hamilton’s effort is a 1:25.235.
15:43 Hamilton up to fifth with a 1:24.756, Massa up to third with a 1:23.451 and Magnussen up to seventh after setting a 1:25.646.
15:47 Massa heads for the pit lane and the track is quiet again.
15:57: McLaren-Honda hasn’t taken to the track again, five hours on from the discovery of an oil leak
16:03 Massa, Hamilton and Ericsson are the drivers currently on-circuit.
16:05 Felipe Massa takes second from Mercedes’ Bottas with a new personal best time of 1:23.025. That’s just two tenths adrift of Vettel‘s benchmark.
16:12 Hamilton is back out for a second run of the afternoon and is currently lapping a couple of tenths slower than his best time so far on the medium tyres.
16:18 Kevin Magnussen has improved his personal best to a 1:25.260, on the medium compound.
16:24 Felipe Massa has grabbed the lead with a 1:22.727 on the soft compound.
16:40 Ericsson improves to a 1:26.841 in what has been a solid day’s running for Sauber. They have registered the third-most laps of any
16:46 The new target time is 1:22.536 – Felipe Massa improved on his previous fastest lap
16:54 Sebastian Vettel is now on track to add to his 68-lap tally.
16:56 Despite not setting a personal best in sectors one or two, Vettel does a big personal best final sector to take P1 away from Williams and Felipe Massa. A 1:22.475 is enough for a half-tenth lead on the time sheet.
17:01 Hamilton now is back on the track and joins Massa and Sebastian.
17:04 Three quick laps in succession from Vettel, Hamilton and Massa! Hamilton emerges as the fastest man and is the first to dip into the 1:21’s. Massa posted a 1:22.0, with Vettel clocking a 1:22.3.
17:12 Carlos Sainz now has his lap down to a 1:24.494. It’s not enough to improve his position in the standings, however.
17:20 Sebastian Vettel is currently third, 0.6 seconds down on Hamilton’s time, but Seb did his lap time on the Medium tyre, while the Mercedes driver on soft.
17:24 Ricciardo sets a 1:25.666 as he comes back on the track.
17:44 Sebastian Vettel goes ahead of Massa with a 1:21.878. He’s just over one tenth behind the Mercedes, but he’s still on the medium tyre.
17:47 Scuderia Ferrari has run exclusively on the white-marked mediums all day, with Vettel now just 10 laps away from a Day One century.
17:50 Ricciardo is up to 20 laps for Red Bull but has just returned to the action following a brief stop in the garage.
17:57 The Renault is back on track after a lengthy spell in the pits. He’ll be hoping to add many more laps to his current tally of 32
17:59 After a brief spell in the McLaren garage, Alonso is back out, joining Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciarod and Hulkenberg.
18:08 All drivers have taken to the pit lane and the track is now quiet.
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