Old is new again as Mercedes finishes test run 1-2.
MONTMELO, Spain—February 19th—Placing 1-2 is business as usual in Formula 1 racing for the AMG Mercedes team of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. And perhaps Wednesday’s opening test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain was an indication of how the 2020 season will turn out. Hamilton set the mark with a time of 1:16:976 with Bottas coming in at just 0.037 seconds behind Hamilton.
Mercedes & Ferrari drivers converse. Vettel didn’t drive (illness). Photo: Rediff
But perhaps the biggest news of the day was that Racing Point’s Sergio Perez finished third with a time that was only 0.062 seconds behind Bottas. That may be proof that the so-called “Pink Mercedes” has improved. Fourth was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Those results suggest that the battle for the “best of the rest” might be even tighter than it was last season. Dani Kvyat, with his new Alpha Tauri entry, took fifth, followed by the lone McLaren of Carlos Sainz Jr. Right behind them were the two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and his new teammate, Esteban Ocon. Interesting in that regard was that Renault car debuted with a new, narrower nose.
Williams, who had just launched their car a couple of days ago, showed some promise. Second-year British driver George Russell finished ninth, completing 73 laps and only 1.1 seconds behind Hamilton. It indeed showed promise for a team that needs results to continue participating in Formula 1.
Finishing tenth was the other Racing Point with Canadian Lance Stroll. In the 11th position was Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari, who took over for an unwell Sebastian Vettel. Although disappointed in his finish, Leclerc was mainly looking at completing his day with an endurance test. The Frenchman netted a total of 131 laps, which was second best to Verstappen, who finished with 168.
Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi, test driver Robert Kubica of Alfa Romeo, Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen, and Kubica’s teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, took 12th through 15th, respectively.
With this being the first test, it was surprising that there were no red flags during the entire day–a rarity considering that even with Verstappen spinning a few times, that action did not bring out a caution.
The testing will continue until Friday before resuming next week on Wednesday at the same venue.
