01/03/2017
NEWS STORY
Mercedes completed 170 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday, as 2017 pre-season testing continued with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton taking turns at the wheel of the F1 W08 EQ Power+
Valtteri emerged for his first run as the track opened at 09:00, completing 75 laps before the hour-long lunch break at 13:00. Lewis took over in the cockpit for the afternoon session, completing 95 laps before the pit lane closed at 18:00.
Valtteri kicked off today's programme with aero data collection, moving on to analysis of the softer tyre compounds and setup work in preparation for Melbourne.
In the afternoon session, Lewis completed his first race simulation of 2017 before rounding off the day with further aero setup tests and pit stop practice.
Lewis will take the wheel of the W08 tomorrow morning, with Valtteri behind the wheel in the afternoon on the fourth day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
Valtteri Bottas: I think it was another good session. We completed lots of mileage and the entire programme that we'd planned to do - including some long and short runs, collecting information on the different tyre compounds.
We did some aero work to start with in the morning when the conditions were cold, then moved onto testing different settings on the car. It was a pretty straightforward day again, so I think everyone has done a great job so far. The car is running well and it's feeling better and better.
It was definitely easier today without the windy conditions and I was able to experience the new car a bit more. One more day of testing left this week, with the wet running on Thursday, so I'm looking forward to getting more laps in tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton: It's been a great test so far for the team. Everyone at the factory has worked so hard to build a car that goes the distance. As always on these test days we're trying to get through as much as possible, in terms of reliability.
The main thing is I got my first race run done today with no problems at all. Everything's worked well, which I'm happy about. The car is running smoothly and we're just running through setup items to tick off boxes at this stage.
This is testing, so on the first week you never chase times. When you bring out a new car you don't have all of the components to be able to switch and make changes and work through everything you want to do - that's something that filters through over the days. Next week we should have a better opportunity to dial in the car, but for now we're focusing on mileage.
Valtteri is doing a great job so far. His feedback seems solid, he's working great with the team and transitioning in smoothly.