Pre-season testing is now officially over and the next time that the drivers will be in their cars will be at the Australian Grand Prix. With much improved weather for the second week of testing, the teams all ran nearly twice as many laps as they ran during the first test, which was impacted by rain, snow and cold temperatures.
Mercedes ran the most laps in the second test, running a total of 734 laps. Ferrari also ran a lot of laps, but more than 100 laps separated them from Mercedes. Most of the other teams ran close to the same number of laps, spanning from just under 500 to around 550 laps.
Force India got some much-needed running in the second test, having ran the fewest laps during the first test. Meanwhile, McLaren ran the fewest number of laps in the second test with 339, which was 159 laps less than Toro Rosso running the Honda power unit.
McLaren also ran the fewest laps in all of pre-season testing, falling just under the 600-lap barrier. This is nearly 100 less laps than Haas ran. Force India also ran slightly fewer laps than the rest of the field. The mid-teams were quite close, running between 780 and 825 laps. Ferrari ran roughly 100 laps more than the closest team and Mercedes racked up the most mileage, having run roughly 100 laps more than Ferrari.
We’ll have to see if the added mileage paid off. The Australian Grand Prix will kick of the 2018 Formula One season on the weekend of March 25.
