Barcelona 2, day 1: Kubica quickest as final pre-season test gets underway

Alfa Romeo test driver Robert Kubica went quickest on the first day of Formula 1’s second pre-season test at Barcelona, with the Pole finishing four tenths of a second ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen whose late spin brought out red flags at the end of the session.

Kubica set his benchmark time of 1m16.942 during the morning session using Pirelli’s softest C5 tyres.

Kubica handed over to Alfa Romeo race driver Kimi Räikkönen in the afternoon and as the focus shifted to race simulations and harder compounds the Pole’s time was rarely threatened. Verstappen got close, however, jumping to up to second place on the timesheet with a lap of 1:17.347s set on the harder C3 compound.

Verstappen pushed too hard into Turn 10 late on, though, and went off. With his RB16 stranded in the run-off area the session was red-flagged. AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat also came to a halt at the end of the session, with the Russian griding to a halt at Turn 4.

Third place in the session went to Racing Point’s Sergio Perez who set a C3-shod time of 1:17.428 to finish within a tenth of Verstappen. Kvyat, meanwhile rose to fourth place after a good lap prior to his late stoppage.

The Russian was backed up by AlphaTauri team-mate Pierre Gasly, though the French driver only managed 25 laps in a morning session troubled by a loose pipe. Sixth place on the timesheet was taken by Alex Albon, though the Thai driver suffered a similarly difficult morning to his Red Bull stablemate Gasly as suspension problems kept Albon in the garage for long periods in the morning.

Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton finished in seventh place ahead of the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll. Hamilton managed 89 laps in the morning and Valtteri Bottas went one better in the afternoon to take Mercedes’ total to 179 for the day. The Finn ended the day in ninth place, with Sebastian Vettel completing the top 10 for Ferrari.

The German brought out the first red flags of the morning session when he had a spin at Turn 8 early on, while William’s Nicholas Latifi caused the second stoppage when he pulled over in Turn 9.