The 2016 Formula One cars went out on the track for the first time this season for pre-season testing. This season sees only two pre-season tests, as the Circuito de Jerez does not appear of the testing calendar. All pre-season tests will be four days in length and will be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, home of the Spanish Grand Prix.
This circuit features a wide collection of different corners and straights that allow the teams to analyze their car’s performance in many conditions. The test was also the scene for many of the teams’ car launches, as the traditional car launch events have decreased in popularity throughout the recent seasons. All teams ran their 2016 cars, with the exception of Sauber which opted to run their 2015 car. Heavy ran the night before the test meant that teams had to deal with damp conditions on the morning of the first day, but the track conditions quickly improved and remained good throughout the duration of the four day test.
Sebastian Vettel was set the quickest time of the test, with a lap time of 1:22.810 from the second day. The cars return to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Febraury 29 for the second and final pre-season test.
Ferrari is eager to bump Mercedes off of the number one position in Formula One and return to the former glory that the Italian brand is well known for. Day one showed their potential, as Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheet, ahead of the Mercedes. The team’s test programme for their 69 laps included aerodynamic and constant speed tests, as well as performing some baseline setup on the car. Lap times on the second day were faster all of the way down the board. Ferrari claimed the top of the leaderboard for the second consecutive day, with Vettel behind the wheel again. The team completed 126 laps on day two, which included some more aerodynamic work, along with some tyre compound testing.
Kimi Räikkönen completed the final two days of the test for Ferrari. Day three was spent performing some engine mapping and aerodynamic work. The team had to settle for third fastest of the day, despite topping the time sheets in the two days prior. The Ferrari spent the morning in the garage, as the team worked on a fuel pump failure. The car didn’t make it out of the garage until the afternoon, but managed complete a day total of 78 laps. Räikkönen was back in the car for the final day of the test, which resulted in the Ferrari topping time charts once again in Barcelona. With 80 more laps, for a test total of 353, the 2016 Ferrari is starting to look like a very competitive and reliable car for the season.
Force India opted to allow Alfonso Celis to be the first driver of the VJM09, despite this only being his second time out in a Formula One car. He later described the experience as a “big honour”. After running some system checks in the morning, the team was about to advance to collecting data from various aerodynamic equipment that was fitted to the car. Because of the time spent fitting equipment, the team only ran 58 laps. The team completed 101 laps the following day, when Sergio Pérez got behind the wheel. The team’s lap times improved greatly, as they secured third on the time sheet, which was even quicker than the Mercedes.
Day three of the test was even better for the team, as Nico Hülkenberg ended the day on the top of the time chart. This was largely because Force India was the only team that was not focusing on long runs that day. Hülkenberg finished the day only one lap short of completing 100 laps. Having started the test, Celis was also invited to finish the test for Force India. He completed 75 laps, after which he was the third fastest car of the day. This concluded the team’s 333 laps of testing in Barcelona.
The American team’s debut didn’t really go to plan. Romain Grosjean was behind the wheel of the new car, but suffered a front wing failure. He was able to return to the garage. The team fitted a new wing and were able to complete some more laps near the end of the day. The wing failure was caused by faulty manufacturing. As a result of their issues, the team ran the fewest laps of the day. Esteban Gutiérrez impressed the team with some consistent pace on the second day. The team finished mid-table after 79 laps.
Grosjean returned to action for the third day of testing, receiving his wish for a better day than he had previously. After 82 laps, the team concluded the day with a time worthy of second on the time charts. However, the team was over 2.7 seconds slower than the leading Force India. Haas had a solid final day of their first ever test in Formula One. Gutiérrez managed to complete 89 laps before their day came to an early end when the car stopped on the track. The team completed a respectable 281 laps for their first test.
Pascal Wehrlein was on the track in the Manor for the first two days of the test. The morning of the first testing day was spent largely in the garage, as worked on setting up their new Mercedes power unit with only five laps on the track. The afternoon was an improvement, as Wehrlein brought the day’s total up to 54 reliable laps. He completed another 71 laps on the second day, as the team worked on evaluating the new car during long runs.
Rio Haryanto made his debut in Formula One on the third day. The rookie found himself in the gravel trap just before lunch time, after having a little spin in turn five. He was still able to complete 78 laps in the day, but was well off the pace of the car in front of him. He suffered some misfortune the following day when he spun again at turn five and put the car into the barrier after 51 laps. The rear of the car had some damage and it was returned to the garage. The team was not able to repair the damage in time for car to return to the track. The team were happy with what they saw from the car in their 254 laps of testing.
Eager to ensure that they will not suffer the same poor fate that they suffered last season, McLaren was determined to run various reliability tests. Jenson Button completed day one with 84 laps and Fernando Alonso with 119 laps in day two. Both days were relatively fault proof, showing that the team has made some improvements over the winter break.
Unfortunately, the third day of the test was not as positive for the team. The day started well, but Button suffered a hydraulic leak in the afternoon. The McLaren returned to the garage, where it remained for the rest of the day, having only completed 51 laps. Much like a flashback from last season, McLaren never really made it out of the garage, as a collant leak locked the car inside of the garage after only three laps of running. Alonso failed to set a time for the final day. With 257 laps completed throughout the duration of the test, the McLaren still appears to be a bit more reliable than their previous car.
Mercedes completed the most laps in day one of the first pre-season test, with 156 laps completed. The team second best to Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of the car. The team was focused on accumulating mileage during the test, rather than quick lap times. Some their programme included setup evaluation and assessing this year’s Pirelli tyre lineup. Rosberg took over the car for the second day of testing, running a staggering 172 laps. Their day was spent setup and aerodynamic assessment, as well as race simulations, which included race starts and pit stop practices. Although the lap times were faster than the previous day’s, Mercedes was slower than the Ferrari, Red Bull and Force India.
Mercedes altered the driver lineup for the third day of testing, as Rosberg and Hamilton shared the seat for the day. Rosberg drove 74 laps in the morning and handed the car over to Hamilton, who completed an additional 88 laps in the afternoon. Rosberg was the fastest of the pair, lapping just over 0.3 seconds faster than his World Champion teammate. The day was virtually trouble free for the Silver Arrows, although they only fifth on the time sheets by the end of the day. The duo shared their seat for the final day. Although they were not particularly high on the time sheets, an additional 185 laps, 86 from Rosberg in the afternoon and 99 from Hamilton in the morning, proved that they were extremely reliable. With 675 laps run in the test, they completed nearly twice the mileage of the Ferrari and considerably more laps than in last year’s test.
Daniel Ricciardo narrowly out-performed the Williams team, setting a lap time worthy of third position in the first day of the test. Red Bull ran a total of 87 laps to start the test. The team suffered from some technical issues in the morning, but managed to complete the rest of the day without major issues. The team was focused on testing the reliability of their new car. Ricciardo was back in the car for the second day of the test as well. The team’s fastest lap was 2.5 seconds quicker than the day before and they were in a battle for the top spot on the time chart for the morning of the test. The Red Bull wasn’t able to match the pace of the Ferrari and the team was forced to settle for second fastest after 112 laps of running.
Daniil Kvyat experienced his first chance behind the wheel of the new Red Bull, taking over for the remaining days in the test. He spent the third day of the test getting to know the new car, running 74 laps. The day was largely trouble free, although the Russian didn’t set any particularly stunning lap times. He was only the ninth fastest of the day. Kvyat’s lap times improved the following day, as he grabbed the second fastest time of the day. With an additional 96 laps run on the final day, Red Bull ran a four day total of 369 laps.
Jolyon Palmer had the honor of driving the first Renault Formula One car in years. Sadly, this was not as fun as expected. The team spent the majority of their day in the garage battling with technical issues. They only managed to complete 37 laps on the first day and were the slowest car on the circuit. The second day was not much better, as their engine quit after just 42 laps. This put an end to their day of testing.
Kevin Magnussen took over for the final two days of the test. Day three was much more successful for the team, as they moved to fifth on the time charts. They were also very reliable, completing 111 laps, although their day ended prematurely due to an engine issue. In the final day, he managed to complete 153 laps. However, the team was not without issue, as the car came to halt with only 15 minutes remaining in the test. Despite their issues this week, the team still managed to complete a total of 343 laps.
Marcus Ericsson spent the first two days of the test behind the wheel of the Sauber. The team opted to run last year’s car, as the new car would not be ready until the second pre-season test. Both days were spent performing some setup and tyre work for the team. He completed many trouble-free laps, with 88 completed on the first day and 108 on the second.
Felipe Nasr went into action for the final two days of the test. Sauber completed the day mid-table, having run 115 laps. The day was spent collecting some aerodynamic data and performing some long runs to test this year’s collection of tyres. Nasr concluded the test with the sixth fastest time of the day and 121 laps. The team was able to add an additional 432 laps on last year’s car. Their 2016 challenger will arrive in Barcelona in time for the second pre-season test.
The Toro Rosso was certainly not the prettiest car on the track, as the team opted to run a solid blue testing livery. Carlos Sainz was in charge of piloting the car for the first day of testing. He was relatively silent, as he was ranked in seventh position after his 55 lap test. Toro Rosso had a poor second day, as Max Verstappen was trapped in the garage for some time in the morning, while the team worked to repair an issue. Although Verstappen’s fastest lap was quicker than his teammate’s the day before, the car was the slowest of the day after 121 laps.
Sainz returned to the car for the third day of testing, setting the most laps of the day. The primary focus of this test was to put some mileage on the new car, which was successful in day three. The team also spent the day fitting some new parts that had been produced in the factory. Verstappen returned to the car for the final day of testing, wrapping up the top five on the time sheets after 110 laps. The team completed a grand total of 490 laps in the test.
Williams put Valtteri Bottas in charge of running the first two days of the test. Although the team managed to run 80 laps in the opening day of the test, their first pre-season testing day was hindered by some minor technical issues that trapped them within the garage for quite some time. Williams declined from fourth fastest in day one to seventh on day two. However, they managed to run more laps than the day before. This allowed them to spend their 134 laps on completing their test programme for the day, which included reliability tests in long runs and a lot of work to the chassis.
Felipe Massa made his season debut on the third day of the test. It was a fairly quiet day from Williams, as Massa settled in behind the Red Bull on the time charts, finishing the day in tenth position. He was one of the four drivers that were able to hit triple digits on their lap counters, finishing the day with 109 laps run. The final day was also a very quiet day for Williams. They completed 54 laps on the final day with Massa still behind the wheel. The team completed the test with 377 total laps run.
Bold indicates the fastest lap time of the test
* indicates a 2015 car
