Kimi Raikkonen lapped fastest for Alfa Romeo before his car stopped on track and brought out the first red flag of Formula One’s 2020 pre-season testing on Thursday.
Kimi’s fastest lap of one minute 17.091 seconds on the softest tyre at the Circuit de Catalunya was slower than six- times world champion Lewis Hamilton’s best of 1.16.976 on the opening day. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was fastest in the morning with a 1:17.347, but focused on longer runs in the afternoon when he was still second quickest in a new car with striking similarities to last year’s title-winning Mercedes.
Session leader Raikkonen prompted the first red flag of preseason, stopping on track in the final hour. He had risen to the top of the timing screens shortly before, displacing Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.
On both the stoppage and his place at the top of the order, it is perhaps best to use the Iceman’s own quote from Wednesday when asked whether, after 17 seasons in F1, he still gets the same buzz from preseason as he used to.
“Not as much as you guys,” Raikkonen replied. “You always try to make too much of it with all the stories.”
“For my first testing day, it was an ok one. The important thing is that everything seems to be working well, with no major issues. The immediate feeling is pretty positive, but it’s still early days. There is still a long way to go but I think we made a step forward compared to last year: who knows where this is going to take us, but so far so good.” – Kimi said, at the end of the testing day.
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