The Formula 1 testing began on Monday with teams testing their 2016 cars for the first time in Barcelona, Spain.
Ferrari 2016 F1 car
Sebastian Vettel was the fastest man on the grid, beating the current world champion, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by half a second. Hamilton however got the most laps, a massive 156 laps in the day, more than anyone else.
“It’s good to be back. The car has been great so far. It’s very similar to last year’s – which is a good thing, as it gives us a great foundation to work from. The key is to get as much mileage as possible in the short time we now have for testing and we’ve made a fantastic start,” said Hamilton.
Force India’s test driver Alfonso Celis managed to come in fifth behind Ricciardo for Red Bull and Bottas for Williams.
“I’m feeling very happy with how things went today,” said the young Mexican. “The start of the day was special when we launched the VJM09 and it was a big honour to be the first to drive the car. It was only my second day in a Formula One car, but I was able to enjoy the experience more than last time because I knew what to expect and I had a bit more confidence. We managed to work through the whole plan with good reliability. I could not think of a better way to start the season.”
Jenson Button came in sixth for McLaren-Honda in a relatively trouble-free day of testing. Carlos Sainz came in behind Button at the 7th place in the Torro Rosso while Marcus Ericsson finished eighth in Sauber which is the only team running on 2015 car. Romain Grosjean came in 10th for the Haas team and Joylon Palmer came in last for the Renault works team.
| POS | Driver | Team/Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari SF16-H | 1:24.939 | 69 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid | 1:25.409 | 0.470 | 156 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 | 1:26.044 | 1.105 | 87 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes FW38 | 1:26.091 | 1.152 | 80 |
| 5 | Alfonso Celis | Force India-Mercedes VJM09 | 1:26.298 | 1.359 | 58 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda MP4-31 | 1:26.735 | 1.796 | 84 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 | 1:27.180 | 2.241 | 55 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericcson | Sauber-Ferrari C34 | 1:27.555 | 2.616 | 88 |
| 9 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 | 1:28.292 | 3.353 | 54 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari VF-16 | 1:28.399 | 3.460 | 31 |
| 11 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault R.S.16 | 1:29.356 | 4.417 | 37 |
Related Posts