Mercedes gains traction after a slow start on Days 1 and 2.
BARCELONA, Spain—Things got back to normal on the final day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday as both Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took the top two positions.
Hamilton set the fastest time in the last 20 minutes of the day’s action. He had the C4 tire put on his Silver Arrows, followed a few minutes later with the C5, which gave him the final lap total time of 1:13:138. Russell held the fastest time of the day before Hamilton surpassed it. And to maintain normality, Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez and defending champion Max Verstappen were third and fourth, respectively.
Sebastian Vettel continued to be consistent in his Aston Martin, taking fifth despite suffering a late morning oil leak that caused a fire in the back of his car.
Sixth and seventh were both Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. It was a rather disappointing final day for the two, considering that they finished in the top four in each of the opening days. McLaren, another team that did well in the opening two days, dropped even further, placing Daniel Ricciardo 10th and Lando Norris 11th. Valtteri Bottas placed 16th and last to end a frustrating test period in his debut for Alfa Romeo.
On the other hand, Williams had a rather good finish, placing Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi eighth and ninth.
The next three positions for the day went to Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), and Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri). All three experienced incidents that damaged their cars to the point that none returned for the afternoon session.
Alonso’s was the most spectacular when his Alpine had to stop because of the loss of oil pressure. The car immediately caught fire and had to be put out by marshals. At issue was a hydraulics problem with a minor sealing issue that led to a fire in the back of the car. Zhou had two instances. He first beached his car in the sand. Then, thirty minutes later, he lost power on the straightaway. Gasly crashed at turn five and damaged his front suspension and front wing after striking the wall.
Nikita Mazepin took 15th in the sole Haas entry, but that wasn’t the biggest news of the day. Rumors have it that the Russian could be replaced because of his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mazepin’s car, which usually displays the Uralkali sponsorship and the Russian flag’s colors, had both omitted on Friday. Haas will have to decide whether to drop the sponsorship and/or ban Mazepin from racing. It had been thought that American motorsport owner Michael Andretti, who wants to enter a Formula One team in two years, might be interested in sponsoring the team. But Haas officials have said that discussions have not taken place.
The next test, which will occur at the Bahrain International Circuit on March 8-10, will concentrate on one-lap and race pace. The final tune-up will be before the 2022 season starts ten days later at the same location.
