Winter Testing Day 7 - The Round Up

Thursdays testing has concluded and the cars started to increase their pace today. Both Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon were able to break into the 1.16's whilst other teams were just a fraction behind. Pierre Gasly had a mega crash creating speculation that Red Bull will not be able to test tomorrow. Read below for a full debrief: 

Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and Lance Stroll got the session underway and got on-track as soon as the light went green.

Bottas immediately set about recording a long run, lapping comfortably in the 1:24s on the C3 compound.

Daniel Ricciardo replaced Nico Hulkenberg for Renault in the afternoon session and set about a long run for Renault.

Everyone seemingly followed suit and settled in for the typical afternoon of race runs and long stints in the car.

The first red flag was brought out with just over an hour gone. Pierre Gasly had a huge off at turn nine and hit the barriers on the outside of the corner in a big way, totalling his RB15. This crash has created speculation that his team will be forced to finish testing one day early and the team were pictured taking down their garage. 

Back to green and the long runs continued. Haas was kept busy in the garage repairing a broken exhaust on the VF-19 and missed out on more track time leaving Romain Grosjean as the only driver scheduled to drive yet to set a time at the halfway mark in the afternoon.

Leclerc was making the most of the track time he had after missing out on yesterday afternoon due to Vettel’s crash. The Monegasque driver reaching 100 laps with just under half the session to go.

Similarly, Bottas put Mercedes into triple digits for the day after his teammate Lewis Hamilton’s 85 lap haul from the morning session.

Lance Stroll was forced to stop his Racing Point car which caused the Red Flag to come out. 

Testing soon got underway again with teams going out looking to pick up some extra laps in the final hour of the day. 

Romain Grosjean in the Haas put some quick times in the first sector but slowed down for the rest of the lap. 

Charles Leclerc who had been impressing today then suddenly pulled over in the exact same spot as Lance Stoll did earlier, forcing a red flag. 

Mercedes and Renault headed out for a final few minutes of testing and were then called in by the chequered flag.  

TIMES + LAPS

Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - 1:16.231s - 138

Alexander Albon - Toro Rosso - 1:16.882s - 118

Lando Norris - McLaren - 1:17.084s - 84

Pierre Gasly - Red Bull - 1:17.091s - 65

Daniel Ricciardo - Renault - 1:17.204s - 65

Nico Hulkenberg - Renault - 1:17.496s - 73

Lance Stroll - Racing Point - 1:17.556s - 103

Antonio Giovinazzi - Alfa Romeo - 1:17.639s - 71

Romain Grosjean - Haas - 1.17.854 - 16

Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:18.097s - 85

George Russell - Williams - 1:18.130s - 140

Kevin Magnussen - Haas - 1:18.199s - 53

Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - 1:20.858s - 96