23/02/2022
NEWS STORY
Charles Leclerc topped the time sheets on the opening morning of the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
In many ways it was an uneventful morning, certainly in terms of incidents, with no stoppages or controversy.
Lando Norris had the honour of getting the season underway, the Briton heading out on to the track at just a couple of minutes after nine. He was soon joined by George Russell, Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
While there was nothing in the way on incidents there was plenty of excitement when the Red Bull finally headed out, allowing the world its first glimpse of Adrian Newey's latest creation.
One of the early pace-setters, at one time trading fastest laps with Yuki Tsunoda, the world champion was concentrating on reliability and as he racked up the laps so he slid down the order.
Between them the ten drivers covered 531 laps, and while Verstappen and Leclerc will be delighted to have 80 trouble-free laps under their belts, there will surely be concern at Alfa Romeo where Robert Kubica only managed 20 and at Haas where Nikita Mazepin completed just 9.
With the emphasis on data acquisition, it comes as no surprise that the infamous aero rakes were much in evidence, whilst there was liberal use of flo-vis, particularly at Williams where at one stage Latifi's FW44 resembled a Jordan.
With so much to discover about the new cars in terms of aero and the 18-inch tyres, it comes as ni surprise that there were a couple of attempts to try and discover how the rules overhaul has impacted dirty air and the ability of one car to follow another more closely. At one stage Russell hung on to the rear of his former teammate, while Leclerc subsequently ran behind the Mercedes.
While this was out first glimpse of the Red Bull, so too we got to see the Haas in all its glory, the American team unveiling the car in the minutes before the session.
Unfortunately, that's about the last we got to see of the car for Nikita Mazepin only completed 9 laps, while, due to series of "niggles", Kubica, the only reserve driver on duty this week, was limited to 20.
Most of this morning's running was completed on the C3 rubber, though Verstappen posted his best time on the slightly harder C2.
“We got our first impression of the RB18 at our filming day last week," said the Dutchman. "The rules are very different this year and so it is nice to get your first few laps in and get a feel for it.
Though this was the opening day of pre-season testing, it is clear that sections of the media have learned nothing from last year.
Having spent time of the Mercedes pit-wall, Lewis Hamilton took a walk along the pitlane to check out the opposition.
Giving a clear sign of what we can expect in the months (years?) ahead, when the Briton stopped outside the Red Bull garage, the Sky crew made much of the fact that there was "no eye contact" between the seven-time world champion and Verstappen.