Hamilton fastest, hopes Barcelona reliability tests a sign of good things to come

Dubai: The ‘Barcelona Shakedown’ was all about getting to know the new Formula 1 cars, testing their reliability and getting as many laps out of them as possible over the five days.

And yet, some teams were sounding more cheerful than others heading into the performance tests to take place in Bahrain on February 11-13 and again on February 18-20 before the first race of the season in Melbourne on March 8.

The usual suspects like Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull did send out positive signals, but the one team that caught the eye was Ferrari, who, without giving too much away, must have been secretly pleased with what they saw on track from both their drivers.

The fastest lap times were not published officially all week due to the closed status of the shakedown but it is understood that Lewis Hamilton topped Friday’s running with a test-best time of 1:16.348 during his afternoon in the Ferrari SF-26.

That was a tenth quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell went on Thursday when he clocked 1:16.445.

McLaren’s Lando Norris had set a 1:16.594 earlier on during Friday afternoon, eventually finishing second quickest, with Charles Leclerc third having set the morning pace of 1:16.653 when he drove the new Ferrari. Friday’s three quickest times were thought to be set on the C3 soft tyres.

Max Verstappen completed 118 laps and was fifth quickest as Red Bull returned to track three days on from Isack Hadjar’s crash in the wet.

And while Individual lap times in pre-season testing are notoriously unreliable indicators of outright car performance, Ferrari will certainly take heart from the strong early reliability displayed by their new car and engine after Formula 1’s biggest-ever regulation change dictated design teams overhaul their chassis and power units for the new campaign.

Having completed almost 300 laps across the car’s opening two days on track, Leclerc and Hamilton combined to add 145 more to the team’s tally on Friday — taking Ferrari’s overall count for the week to an impressive 440.

Describing it as a “really enjoyable week”, Hamilton said: “It’s been a really productive and enjoyable week. There has been a huge amount of work over the winter, both personally and from everyone in the team, and it’s good to see that reflected in the mileage we’ve been able to complete without major issues.

“Driving in wet conditions early on was actually a valuable experience, especially with a new car, and overall it’s been a solid start. There’s still a lot to learn and plenty of work to do, but the atmosphere in the team is positive and focused. Now we’ll take everything we’ve learned, continue analysing the data and prepare carefully for the Bahrain test.”

Leclerc echoed Hamilton’s optimism, saying: “Overall it’s been a productive shakedown. We completed our programme and managed to run a good number of laps, which was important to start understanding the car and the new systems.”