Renault leads on final day of F1 testing but not without reliability concerns

Nico Hulkenberg topped the chart by the end of the first preseason Formula 1 test in Barcelona, but it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Renault.

Renault may have established the headline-grabbing times, but their track time was severely limited as the usual testing gremlins revealed themselves in short order. The clearest example of this came when, with an hour left on the clock, Nico Hulkenberg stopped on the track, prompting a red flag.

Completing just 58 laps between Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, Williams was the only team that spent less time on track, having its own very public problems throughout the four days.

Mercedes began to ease its way up the order. Finding themselves well down across the first three days, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton ended the day fourth and fifth respectively. In comparison, Charles Leclerc scored only the sixth fastest time of the day for a Ferrari team who topped the tables on days one and two.

Having set his fastest first two sectors of the test, Hamilton saw his hot lap attempt ended early as he had to take drastic avoiding action to prevent him from rear-ending the Williams of Robert Kubica –- the Polish driver making a rare trip out on the track.

The day ended with Antonio Giovinazzi bringing out the red flag. Having completed 154 laps across the day, the most of any individual driver, Giovinazzi stopped at the end of pit lane as he headed out for one final glory run. It was just the second red flag caused by Alfa Romeo after Kimi Raikkonen spun into the gravel on day one.

Pos.

Driver

Constructor

Laps

Time

1

Nico Hulkenberg

Renault F1 Team

24

1:17.393

2

Alexander Albon

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda

136

1:17.637

3

Daniel Ricciardo

Renault F1 Team

34

1:17.785

4

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

57

1:17.857

5

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

58

1:17.977

6

Charles Leclerc

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow

138

1:18.046

7

Lando Norris

McLaren F1 Team

132

1:18.431

8

Antonio Giovinazzi

Alfa Romeo Racing

154

1:18.511

9

Romain Grosjean

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team

64

1:18.563

10

Kevin Magnussen

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team

66

1:18.720

11

Pierre Gasly

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

146

1:18.780

12

Lance Stroll

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team

72

1:19.664

13

George Russell

ROKiT Williams Racing

17

1:20.997

14

Robert Kubica

ROKiT Williams Racing

48

1:21.542

 

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