Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo clocked the quickest time on a competitive final morning of pre-season Formula 1 testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Several teams ran Pirelli’s C5 tyres during the build-up to the lunch break at the Spanish Grand Prix venue on the sixth and last day of testing. Amid a flurry of times on the softest compound – which is not used at May’s grand prix weekend – Ricciardo posted a time of 1:16.276s.
Alfa Romeo Racing Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen completed 62 laps at the Circuit de Catalunya in the morning session of the last testing day, which is almost a full race distance at the Spanish Grand Prix. Kimi’s personal best was a 1:17.415, set on the C5 tyres, which was 1.1s off the pace for Alfa Romeo. A not very encouraging lap for Alfa, but as usual in testing, the times may not be relevant given the engine limitations or different set-ups or restricitions run by teams.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. was fifth, his fastest time coming on C4s, while Williams’ George Russell used the softest compound to place sixth, just 0.595s down on Ricciardo. Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) and Romain Grosjean (Haas) were seventh and eighth respectively, classifying within seven-tenths of Ricciardo’s Renault, as they ran the C4s.
Friday afternoon’s session will begin at 14:00 local time.
LUNCHTIME TIMESHEET
Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, 1:16.276. 65 laps, C5 tyres
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +0.084, 76 laps, C5 tyres
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.134, 90 laps, C5 tyres
Sergio Perez, Racing Point, +0.382, 43 laps, C3 tyres
Carlos Sainz, McLaren, +0.544, 65 laps
George Russell, Williams, +0.595, 43 laps
Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri, +0.638, 59 laps
Romain Grosjean, Haas, +0.761, 86 laps
Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, +1.139, 62 laps
Alex Albon, Red Bull, +1.527, 59 laps
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