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Lunch update | Verstappen most productive driver, Leclerc fastest

23 February 2022 at 12:04
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  • GPblog.com

The Formula 1 season has started with the first day of testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The first four hours of testing are over and it was Charles Leclerc who managed to set the fastest time. But what is perhaps even more important is the number of laps driven and that ranking is led by Max Verstappen.

RB18 unveiled

Everyone was looking forward to it: pictures of the RB18 on track. They started coming in around 08:00hrs [UK time] and demonstrated that Red Bull seems to have done something very special with the side pods. Also in the paddock, the RB18 attracted a lot of attention, for example, James Key stopped by to see if he could find anything interesting.

Photographers of the crews are strategically positioned, trying to get a good shot of the competitors' cars to see if they might be able to recreate a similar concept.

The times are not so important at this point. The race teams mainly want to collect data by doing miles. The cars we now see at work in Barcelona are certainly not the cars we will see in Bahrain in a week and a half. Teams don't want to give away their biggest secrets just yet, because that gives the competition time to imitate them.

Verstappen gets off to a flying start

Verstappen finally came up with a 1:22.246 and with that a sixth time. The Dutchman drove that time with the C2 compound, a relatively hard tyre. Most of the drivers above Verstappen in the standings at lunch drove with relatively softer C3 tyre. In the end, the 24-year-old Dutchman managed 80 laps.

Leclerc went over two seconds faster than Verstappen with a 1:20.165, but that doesn't mean anything at all. At least for Ferrari it's a good start, that's for sure. Leclerc ended up driving 78 laps in Spain. George Russell set the third time and drove about the same number of laps as his Monegasque rival (76).

At the end of the morning, we also see more and more drivers following other cars to see how their own car reacts to this and to see if the following is actually easier than with the previous generation cars.

Difficult start for Alfa Romeo

One team where things did not go as smoothly as expected was Alfa Romeo Racing. Spare driver Robert Kubica got into the car, most likely because he agreed to do so in the contract negotiations, but he didn't put in many laps. Alfa Romeo came up with a camouflage livery again, just like during the filming days, but due to minor problems the counter stopped at nine laps.

In their own words, the problems were 'nothing unexpected', but it's a different matter for the Italian-Swiss formation of Frederic Vasseur. Halfway before the flag fell, Kubica only drove his first representative time.

Continued from Wednesday

Kubica will not return to the car after the lunch break. He will be relieved by Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes, Aston Martin, Haas F1 and Williams also change their drivers. Verstappen just stays in the RB18 to gather more information. The lunch break lasts exactly one hour and at 1pm [UK time] we sit down again for four hours of testing.