Hamilton set the fastest 2018 F1 testing time on medium tyres

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of this year’s pre-season testing in Barcelona after he drove 1:19.333 on medium tyres in his Mercedes W09.

Hamilton had only 25 laps in the first three days after the second day he left the car completely to his team-mate Bottas, and today he performed in the afternoon and drove only on medium tires.

Nevertheless, the 2017 F1 world champion set the fastest time of this year’s testing on medium tyres – 1:19.333 – after the track was dry after the morning rain.

Hamilton’s time is three tenths faster than Vettel’s best time on the second day on soft tyres, and today the second fastest was Vandoorne at McLaren who again used the softest hypersoft tyres because they thought they were the most representative in these cold conditions.

After the first three days, McLaren had second least number of laps, but today Vandoorne and Alonso collected 161 laps together, most of all teams.

Today, 15 out of 20 2018 F1 drivers have set times, as numerous teams have decided to give both of their drivers an opportunity as the bad conditions restricted them on the third day of the test.

Weather was foggy and rainy in the morning, but the air temperature later rose to 15 degrees Celsius while the temperature of the track was over 20 degrees.

Surprisingly, Magnussen in Haas delivered fourth fastest time on supersoft tyres, the fastest for Haas on this year’s test, and Red Bull did not have a good day after Verstappen had spent most of the day in the garage and in the end drove only 35 laps. The Dutchman ended the day after he stopped in Turn 12 and Red Bull did not confirm what caused the incident.

Sainz was in sixth place, faster than team mate Hulkenberg, and the duo had a total of 109 laps for Renault.

Gasly was only Toro Rosso Honda driver on final day, but he completed the most laps of all the drivers, 147, which was another great day for the Italian team with their new engines.

Williams also shared responsibilities among their drivers- Sirotkin drove in the morning and finished last because he set his fastest lap on the wet track while Stroll was seventh fastest in front of Perez in Force India with only 65 laps.

Drivers of Alfa Romeo Sauber were the slowest of drivers driving their fastest times on dry tires, but they completed 138 laps together.

The testing will continue on Tuesday March 6 and will last for another four days while the first race in Australia is scheduled on March 25th.

DAY FOUR RESULTS

MOST LAPS – TEAMS (DAY 4)

MOST LAPS – TEAMS (ALL 4 DAYS)