F1 testing: Leclerc, Ferrari quickest on first morning
Formula One is back!
We have 10 brand new cars, courtesy of this season’s massive aerodynamic rule change, and with it the promise of a shaken up competitive order.
Max Verstappen is defending his title in 2022 and will hope to resume his incredible on-track rivalry with Lewis Hamilton. But, when predicting the order this year, all bets are off.
Preseason testing is always a difficult one to work out — here’s our comprehensive guide on what to watch out for this week and how to spot a good car from a bad one and the tell-tale signs a team might be in a spot of bother with their new car.
Live updates (all times local):
13:00: Leclerc finishes the morning session on top for Ferrari on a 1:20.165. Impressive stint from the Monaco native, with 79 laps completed across the session.
Worth not getting too carried away by times at this point. You can see just by looking at the cars that they’re not being driven at anything close to full beans yet.
Productive sessions for George Russell, Max Verstappen and Nicholas Latifi, who all finished with over 65 laps to their names.
Haas had some issues with the floor early in the session and then had some further gremlins as lunch approached, so Nikita Mazepin finished his first stint of 2022 with 20 laps to his name.
That’s the end of the morning session:
Leclerc – 1:20.165
Norris – 1:20.474
Russell – 1:20.784
Vettel – 1:21.276
Tsunoda – 1:21.638
Verstappen – 1:22.246
Alonso – 1:23.317
Latifi – 1:23.379
Mazepin – 1:24.505
Kubica – 1:25.909#F1 #F1Testing
11:50: Charles Leclerc has reclaimed his place at the top of the timing screens, with a 1:20.165. George Russell has also just improved to a 1:20.784. But on the first day of testing, the real stories tend to be down at the bottom of the timing screens and it’s a pretty sad sight for Alfa Romeo at the moment, which has only completed four laps all morning. Reserve driver Robert Kubica was at the wheel of the car when it emerged this morning, showing off the team’s camouflage livery, which is a one-off for this test before the race livery is launched on Sunday.
No update on the car issue this morning but Alfa have provided a press release about a new clothing range linked to the testing livery. It says: “The camouflage livery is the result of an AI-driven process aimed at creating a dazzling pattern: we can all agree it is a looker – and it inspired Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s teamwear partner, CODE-ZERO, to create a bespoke, limited-edition collection to celebrate this iconic design.” So now you know.
11:32: George Russell is fastest in his brand new Mercedes. The time, a 1:21.039, was set early on a 12-lap run on the C3 tyre compound … so make of that what you will. Probably the more important statistic at this stage of testing is that the Mercedes has completed 45 laps without any major issues. However, rivals Red Bull lead the way on the lap count with an impressive 54 for Max Verstappen so far.
10:00: One hour down already. Times are pretty irrelevant on day one, with teams going through systems checks and stuff like that. But, here they are if you’re wondering…
First hour of testing down in Barcelona, current fastest times:
1. Leclerc 1m21.718s
2. Russell + 0.937s
3. Tsunoda + 0.974s
4. Verstappen + 1.320s
5. Alonso + 1.599s
6. Norris + 1.975s
7. Vettel + 3.289s
LAT KUB MAZ yet to record a time but have been out #F1
09:50: Charles Leclerc is in the Ferrari today. Like all the teams will throughout this test, it was sporting some rather fetching “aero rakes” this morning. These devices help the teams measure air flow around the car, which helps them work out how efficient their aerodynamic packages are.
That’s always important but given that these are brand new cars, it’s vital data.
09:20: There’s lots of interest around the Red Bull this morning as it’s one of the only 2022 cars we’re yet to see. Red Bull’s “launch” was effectively an unveiling of their new title sponsorship, a five-year $500 million deal with U.S. tech giant Oracle, with the livery shown off on a 2022 show car.
Red Bull designer Adrian Newey is considered to be the best in the business so whenever Red Bull releases a new car there is excitement. His first car at the start of a new rules cycle is perhaps when there is maximum interest. The car looks pretty remarkable compared to what we’ve seen so far, with incredibly aggressively designed sidepods.
F1 journalist Albert Fabrega got a close up shot in the pit-lane this morning, you can see how deep the sidepod inlet much deeper into the car than anything else we’ve seen so far.
Mira el corte debajo del la entrsds del pontón, increíble.
Note the huge undercut on the sidepod . Amazing
👁👁👁👁👁👁👁 pic.twitter.com/mx7EgWuPz3
09:00 Lando Norris heads out in the McLaren to officially kick off the first day of 2022 preseason testing. George Russell follows him out in his new Mercedes.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen joins shortly afterwards, in his brand new number one branded Red Bull.