Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the day on the final day of pre-season testing before the opening Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain, which is now under two weeks away!
The McLaren man clocked a 1:20.472 from 134 laps. Hamilton spent the morning fine-tuning the MP4-25’s set-up while also carrying out a number of pitstop practices. At the end of the morning, the team undertook several simulated qualifying runs, thrilling the crowds by going head to head with Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher, who were also carrying out similar work, before the afternoon, where the team ran another race simulation, carrying out three 22-lap stints.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was 2nd, and Felipe Massa third, setting a 1:20.539 from his 114 laps. Adrian Sutil conducted a race simulation and qualifying runs, in addition to aero and brake work on his way to 4th in the timesheets.
5th was Sebastian Vettel, who shared the day’s running with Mark Webber, due to the interruptions yesterday.
Michael Schumacher set a 1:20.745 from 123 laps, and says the Barcelona test has helped the team make significant progress:
“The four testing days here in Barcelona have helped us to make significant progress with the MGP W01 and I am feeling quite confident for the start of the season. It is always difficult to read too much into testing but knowing our programme, it is fair to say that the times did not always reflect the true picture. We have worked through many set-up and development evaluations this week and gained valuable information to study before Bahrain. We are heading the first race with a good feeling and we know that we will have our upgrades there. But most of all we know that our prospects for even the first races are looking very reasonable now.”
Michael Schumacher
Rubens Barrichello was 7th ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber. A gear box problem cost about two hours of track time for Kobayashi before lunch. In the afternoon the team tried to catch up with the programme, but had to contend with an early stop to its running, meaning Kobayashi completed 67 laps.
Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi was 9th, and Robert Kubica 10th. Kubica’s Renault team lost some track time in the morning with a technical problem, but covered good mileage in the afternoon.
Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen was 11th, with a 1:25.251 from 65 laps. After some developmental mechanical and weight balance changes, Lotus were happy to see yet more improvement in the car’s reliability and pace. Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi brought up the rear, over 5 seconds off the pace of Hamilton.
Results
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m 20.472s 134 laps
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m 20.496s 61 laps
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m 20.539s 114 laps
4. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m 20.611s 100 laps
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m 20.667s 76 laps
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m 20.745s 123 laps
7. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m 20.870s 84 laps
8. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m 20.911s 67 laps
9. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 22.135s 88 laps
10. Robert Kubica Renault 1m 23.175s 107 laps
11. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m 25.251s 65 laps
12. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1m 26.160s 49 laps
Gallery
