Barcelona Test: rain spoils the day
As winter testing ends
The final day of preseason testing was largely spoiled by the heavy rain.
As forecasted, the heavens opened in Catalunya. The conditions were so bad that the four teams due to test today couldn’t even do some meaningful work with Pirelli wet tyres. They hardly took to the track and Ferrari started to pack up in the course of the afternoon.
This was not very good news for McLaren who dearly needed to put more mileage on his MP4-26 after a difficult preseason. Mercedes, in the meantime, lost the opportunity to complete a race simulation with its fully updated W02.
HRT was due to run today but had to change its plans as some parts were still held up in customs. It means the team will head to Melbourne for the first race of the season with an untested car.
The twelve F1 teams will be back on track in just two weeks time for the opening round of the season.
Fastest lap times of the day :
Pos. | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes GP W02 | 1.43.814 | 35 | |
02 | P. Maldonado | Williams FW33 | 1.44.333 | +0.519 | 23 |
03 | L. Hamilton | McLaren MP4-26 | 1.44.560 | +0.746 | 33 |
04 | F. Alonso | Ferrari 150° Italia | -.—.--- | +-.--- | 5 |
05 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes GP W02 | -.—.--- | +-.--- | 5 |