Less than ideal conditions for testing in the first part of the day at the Circuit de Catalunya, with a slightly damp track after a little overnight rain in Barcelona, which to led to not many laps completed in the first two hours of the day and several drivers in the gravel, including Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Sebastian Vettel took 1.2 seconds off Ferrari’s best time of pre-season testing so far after he and several other drivers had spins on Thursday morning. Sebastian’s best lap time was 1:16.841. However, during his C5 lap, Sebastian Vettel (who completed 49 laps in the first four hours) had a top speed on the straights of not even above 312 km/h, which means that Scuderia Ferrari was still running with the engine turned down.
With 40 mintes to go until the end of the morning session, Sebastian Vettel lost control of the SF1000 car into Turn Five, spinning into the gravel. The German driver managed to get out and bring the Ferrari back in the garage, without too much damage. Seb’s Ferrari got away from him at the exit of turn five, which had already caught out several other drivers earlier in the session.
Lance Stroll ended the session in second place ahead of Nicholas Laitifi for Williams, while Lando Norris was fourth. Verstappen set the fifth-fastest time and slotted his car ahead of Valtteri Bottas on the timesheet. Mercedes continues to rack up strong mileage and set plenty of laps despite the disrupted morning. Bottas also found himself in the gravel at Turn 5 moments before Verstappen spun off as he corrected oversteer. However, he never found himself facing the wrong way and continued back to the pits.
LUNCHTIME TIMESHEET
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:16.841
Lance Stroll, Racing Point, +0.277
Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +0.472
Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:17.573
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +0.897
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +1.144
Esteban Ocon, Renault, +1,172
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1.384
Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, +2.829
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +5.725
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