26/02/2019
NEWS STORY
The good news is that Lando Norris topped the timesheets in Barcelona today as the second week of testing got underway.
The bad news isn't so much that he did it on the softer C4 rubber, but that he bookended the days with stoppages that brought out the red flags.
The first, the result of a hydraulics pressure issue, came just over two hours into the session, while the second came around twenty-five minutes before 'close of play'.
So, while the MCL34 has pace, it's clear that reliability remains an issue for the Woking team.
"On the whole today was a good day," insisted Norris, "although we didn't get to do quite as much running as we wanted.
"We've improved the car slightly since last week, especially on the longer runs, so we're going in the right direction, which is positive. It's important that we keep doing that. Overall, I'm feeling more prepared. I now have one last session in the car on Thursday, to finalise everything before Australia."
Then again, if it was a bittersweet day for McLaren, the same can be said for title rivals Mercedes and Ferrari also.
Having opted to follow Mercedes example and split driver duties, following a handful of exploratory laps early in the day, Charles Leclerc was confined to the garage until just under an hour before the lunch break, the Monegasque youngster managing to complete a further 23 laps in the SF90 and post what was to be the seventh best time of the day.
"This morning we did fewer laps than planned," said Leclerc, "but I'm sure we can make up for lost work in the coming days. Track conditions were slightly different today compared to the first test, so it took a moment to adapt to them".
No such issues for teammate Sebastian Vettel however, who spent much of his afternoon on long runs during which the Ferrari showed remarkable consistency. The German posted a best time of 17.925 and ended the day with 81 laps under his belt.
"It was a busy afternoon," said the German, "but it was good to make up for the laps lost in the morning. We are still trying to understand the car, trying various set-ups. This afternoon, we also had a first go with the supersoft compound, just to get some more information. The next couple of days will be important for us".
Following a successful morning during which Lewis Hamilton completed 83 trouble-free laps as the German team tried a raft of aero updates, including a new nose, wings, sidepods and floor, it was no doubt expecting more of the same in the afternoon.
Unfortunately, Valtteri Bottas made it no further than T2 on his first lap of the day, the W10 suffering an oil pressure problem that necessitated a change of power unit.
As a result the Finn didn't appear again until the final ten minutes of the day, which meant frustration for the driver and his team as it had been hoped to run back-to-back tests to further evaluate the new components.
For the fans, and rival teams, on the other hand, to see the two main title protagonists suffers issues following last week's trouble-free running, offers a faint glimpse of hope that neither will be running away with it in the early stages of the season.
"It's been a beautiful day here in Barcelona," said Hamilton, "and it was great to see that even more fans turned out.
"We got through our run programme and the car was feeling relatively good. It was an improvement from last week which is a good step. The tyres are also working a better now that the track temperature is a bit higher. We have to continue to analyse everything and keep pushing."
"Unfortunately, after four days of flawless reliability last week, I spent most of the day waiting as we had an oil pressure issue on my first outlap and had to change the Power Unit," added Bottas. "But I'm glad I still got to do a few laps, the team did a really good job to get the car out again; it was important to get a bit of a feel for the new aero package.
"My running was obviously very limited, but it seems like we've made improvements. We need to review everything in more detail tonight and I'm looking forward to continuing our programme tomorrow morning."
Talking of rivals, it was a very good day for Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly completing the most laps and only losing out to Norris, in terms of the top spot, by 0.006s. The fact that the Frenchman's best time came on the middle-of-the-range C3 will give Christian and the boys cause for further optimism.
On that note, it's interesting that some drivers, Gasly being a prime example – no pun intended - stick to the C3s like a favourite pair of sneakers or shirt, clearly totally comfortable with the yellow-banded rubber.
"We pushed a little more today," said the Frenchman, "but really it's all about understanding how the car works.
"There were a lot of aero tests and a lot of items to evaluate for the team today, and that's good for me as it helps me get more comfortable with the car. Lap after lap it's getting better, but of course there's still work to do.
"The pace was good, but we just have to focus on ourselves and work through the programme we've defined for each day. So far it's been positive; we've managed to get through our plan and we've gained a lot of mileage.
"The potential is there so we'll just try to improve in the areas we can, keep our heads down and keep working."
A solid day's work from Lance Stroll also, the Canadian completing 82 laps and posting the third best time of the day. Having lost track-time last week, the Silverstone outfit was happy with the progress made today as it worked on an aero programme in the morning, and rebalancing the car in the afternoon.
"It was our smoothest day of testing so far," said the Canadian, 2and we completed some valuable mileage. The car felt good so I think we are heading in the right direction. These days are about building confidence and getting to grips with the new car, but also getting used to this new environment.
"I am getting on really well with the crew in the garage. They're great people and everyone is working so hard. We ran on a mix of different tyres today and tried a lot of test items. There's a good atmosphere in the garage and I'm feeling pleased with the work we did today."
Another good day for Alfa Romeo, which had Antonio Giovinazzi on duty. The Italian completed 99 laps on his way to posting the fourth best time of the day, albeit on the C4s. That said, he was marginally off his best time of the test, which was actually posted on the C3s.
"We have concluded another constructive day and started the second week of testing on a positive note," said the Italian. "With another 99 laps down, I feel good in the car and am satisfied with the progress we are making. We continue to learn about our strengths as a team with every day spent on track and are motivated to continue of this path. I look forward to being back in the car on Thursday."
A fairly quiet morning, during which he completed 39 laps, was followed by an altogether busier afternoon for Alexander Albon as the Thai driver posted the sixth best time of the day.
"It wasn't a bad day today," said Albon, "we started off a little slow after a couple of issues in the morning, but we quickly made up for the lost time and completed a lot of laps. We made a lot of progress in the afternoon session learning more about the car and how it performs in longer runs, so hopefully we can build on that momentum for tomorrow.
"I'm still getting used to the car and there's a few things I need to work on and improve, but I think it's more a case of fine tuning. I'm still getting comfortable with the high-speed of the car and race management of when I can and can't push, but that will come with the more laps I do. We did a lot of runs to see what suits the car best and also help me prepare for my first race in a couple of weeks."
Like Racing Point and Renault, Haas had its issues last week, the American outfit responsible for four of the week's red flags. That seemed a lifetime ago today as Kevin Magnussen completed a convincing 131 laps on his way to the eighth best time of the day.
His strong performance will have put a smile back on the face of the Dane after he lost track-time due to a headrest issue last week.
"It's been a good day with lots of laps," said Magnussen. "I'm very happy to have had a problem free day, it's been good just to run all day with no issues. We needed to start the week off like that. It's nice to get those laps in and see that the car is reliable. The car feels good and we managed to get some long runs in on different tires. Overall, it's been a very positive day."
Also enjoying a far happier day was Williams which had George Russell on duty. While his opening laps gave cause for concern, the Briton lapping around 25s off the pace, he soon got into a rhythm and so the times began to tumble.
By the end of the day he had completed 119 laps and was ninth on the timesheets, though his best time was set on the C5 rubber.
Nonetheless, following the drama of last week, today must be seen as a huge step forward for the Grove outfit.
"It was a good day," smiled the Briton. "Our plan was to get as many laps on the board, make sure we had no issues and that's exactly what we did. We have learnt so much about the car on lower fuel and higher fuel which gives us a good indication moving forward into the next few days.
"All in all, it was a huge relief to have a day like today and we completed our test plan as intended."
Sandwiching the Mercedes duo was the Renault pair, and while between them Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo completed 157 laps, both over 2.3s off the pace, an interview in which the German said he is "quite" happy gave cause for concern.
All in all, an interesting day, a day on which a McLaren rookie - watched on by Fernando Alonso who arrived during the afternoon - posted the best time while also causing two red flags, and Mercedes and Ferrari both lost valuable track-time while Red Bull took another step forward.