Valtteri Bottas finished the last session of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the top of the timesheets, ending the day with a 1m16.196s to beat Daniel Ricciardo’s morning benchmark.
After mounting the C5 tires in the middle of the afternoon’s uneventful race, Bottas overtook Ricciardo with just 0.05 seconds faster than the best effort of the Renault driver of the day to jump to the top of the time.
Moments later, Bottas then found another tenth, improving his first sector time from his best previous to consolidate his position.
Bottas also had the fastest lap in six days of testing, setting a 1m15.732s on the last day of the first week – also on the most flexible tire mix available.
Max Verstappen also creaked his head in front of Ricciardo, leaving with a set of brand-new C4 tires with half an hour to set aside just 0.073 s of Bottas’ record time.
Although Verstappen seemed ready to have another chance to move Bottas from the top, he finally gave up his last race with a new set of C4 tires, leaving Bottas with bragging rights.
Ricciardo’s time since the morning was sufficient to maintain third place in the general classification, while Charles Leclerc posted the fourth fastest time after having made a gigantic 181 laps throughout the day – just under three distances over the circuit of Barcelona.
Lewis Hamilton stayed behind Leclerc after handing the Mercedes over to Bottas for the afternoon, while Esteban Ocon sewn a lap just 0.02 seconds behind Hamilton to finish the day in sixth position.
Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr (photo above) devoted the afternoon to long races, finishing the session in seventh and eighth each having exceeded 150 laps, both ending the day just away from George Russell.
Russell had spent the day doing aerodynamic work for Williams and testing new bodies to help his team prepare for the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen stayed in the Alfa Romeo for the afternoon, but her day ended with an hour to spare – leaving the Finnish driver locked up in 12th place.
Kevin Magnussen spent most of the afternoon stuck in the garage with apparent clutch problems, but returned for the last half hour of the race – setting his best time of 1m17.495 on a set of tires C4 to win the 13th fastest time.
This left Alex Albon at the bottom of the standings after his morning off-road outing at turn 12.
Friday times
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Difference | Tours |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m16.196s | – | 79 |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull / Honda | 1m16.269s | 0.073s | 45 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1m16.276s | 0.080s | 65 |
4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m16.360s | 0.164s | 181 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m16.410s | 0,214s | 90 |
6 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1m16.433s | 0,237s | 75 |
seven | Sergio Perez | Racing Point / Mercedes | 1m16.634s | 0.438s | 154 |
8 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren / Renault | 1m16.820s | 0,624s | 163 |
9 | George Russell | Williams / Mercedes | 1m16.871s | 0,675s | 146 |
ten | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri / Honda | 1m16.914s | 0.718 | 160 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Haas / Ferrari | 1m17.037s | 0,841s | 86 |
12 | Kimi raikkonen | Alfa Romeo / Ferrari | 1m17.415s | 1.219s | 115 |
13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas / Ferrari | 1m17.495s | 1.299s | 29 |
14 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull / Honda | 1m17.803s | 1,607s | 59 |