While Red Bull, McLaren, Alpine, and AlphaTauri decided to continue with the same drivers for the rest of today’s testing session, Scuderia Ferrari completed the afternoon session with Carlos Sainz, who replaced Charles Leclerc after the positive morning test for the Monegaque driver. Mercedes were also swapping George Russell for Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher also made his first appearance of testing, replacing Nikita Mazepin.
Formula 1, of course, is all about speed. But these opening weeks of pre-season testing are mostly about reliability and for now we can clearly see big differences between the so-called bigger teams and outsiders, even with the new rules and aero designs for 2022.
As well as looking quick on track, Scuderia Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull have all racked up well over a century of laps in this first day of testint at the Circuit de Catalunya. On the other hand, Haas and Alfa Romeo were at the lower end of the timesheet.
Lando Norris has ended day one with the fastest time for McLaren, ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, as the Spanish driver completed 72 laps this afternoon, with a personal best lap time of 1:20.416
Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are next, with world champion Max Verstappen posting the ninth quickest time of the day for Red Bull.
Reading too much into the results of pre-season testing, especially on day one, is not often the wisest of moves but it is likely spirits will be particularly high in the McLaren and Ferrari garages after the first day of running.
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