2018 F1 pre-season testing.

Swami · Feb 26, 2018

Fernando Alonso: McLaren driver spins off in Formula 1 testing in Barcelona

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

41 minutes ago
From the section Formula 1

Fernando Alonso had done just six laps before spinning into the gravel
McLaren had a difficult start to Formula 1 pre-season testing when Fernando Alonso's car lost a wheel after just six laps in Spain.

The two-time champion lost control at the last corner of Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya when his right rear wheel came off.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time ahead of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.

Alonso and McLaren recovered to set the fifth fastest time of the day.

McLaren blamed a "wheel nut issue" and Alonso lost valuable running in the best conditions.

World champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh fastest after taking over the Mercedes from Bottas for the colder afternoon session, when most teams limited running because of the poor conditions before rain hit with half an hour of the day remaining.

Ricciardo's pace-setting time of one minute 20.179 seconds was 0.17secs quicker than Bottas, both using the medium tyre.

The Australian not only set the best time, but also completed the most laps, making Red Bull the only team to do more than 100 laps on the first of eight days of pre-season testing before the first race in Melbourne, Australia, on 25 March.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: "It certainly was a positive first morning.

"It is always difficult to read too much into these things, but over 60 laps and sensible lap times was a good start to the pre-season testing.

"And it was exactly what we have been aiming to do over the winter to get ourselves onto the front foot coming into the testing.

"So the whole team has worked incredibly hard to get into the position where we are today.

"But, of course, it is just the start of a very long journey, and it is all about how we develop RB14 from this point all the way through to Abu Dhabi."

Daniel Ricciardo completed 60 laps in the morning and 45 in the afternoon
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, 0.157secs behind Bottas, on the faster soft tyre, and 0.041secs quicker than Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, who was on the medium, on what was an impressive first day for the factory Renault team.

Hulkenberg was consistently among the fastest runners when out on track on the first morning of testing and the German said his first impressions of the car were "positive".

Renault, who supply Red Bull and McLaren with engines as well as their own team, have said they are taking a conservative approach to engine performance at the start of the season and will only start to bring in extra power after the first few races.

Horner told Autosport he was "concerned" by Renault's strategy and feared that the gap between them and Mercedes on engine performance could widen as a result.

Hulkenberg's team-mate Carlos Sainz used the soft tyre in the afternoon session to go sixth quickest behind Alonso.

McLaren's problems restricted Alonso's running to 51 laps, most of that in the less-ideal and colder conditions of the afternoon.

Ironically, he did just over half the number of laps achieved by the Toro Rosso team, who are this year using the Honda engine that McLaren abandoned at the end of last season after three years of poor performance and reliability.

Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley was eighth fastest, about a second slower than Alonso. The New Zealander did 93 laps, second only to Ricciardo, and comfortably surpassing the highest number McLaren-Honda has ever achieved on a single day of pre-season testing.

Alonso's incident happened about an hour into the day's running and on a lap on which he was on course to set the fastest time of the day at that point.

The 36-year-old Spaniard was running the super-soft tyres on his first real run of the morning when the right rear wheel worked loose and then detached from the car as he went through the flat-out right-hander that leads on to the pit straight.

He closely inspected the right rear corner of the car while it was sitting in the gravel trap and returned to the pits holding what appeared to be the wheel nut.

McLaren executive director Zak Brown said: "There is no drama. It is quite an easy fix. It is what testing is for. All the teams will have a variety of issues. we will lose very little time. No big deal at all."

Fastest times from day one

1 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:20.179 seconds

2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:20.349

3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:20.506*

4 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:20.547

5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Renault 1:21.339**

6 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:22.168*

7 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:22.327

8 Brendon Hartley (NZ) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:22.371*

9 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams-Mercedes 1:22.452*

10 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas-Ferrari 1:22.578*

11 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:23.408*

12 Nikita Mazepin (Rus) Force India-Mercedes 1:25.628

13 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams-Mercedes 1:44.418*

* = time set on soft tyre; ** = time set on super-soft tyre; all other times on medium

Swami

Swami · Feb 27, 2018

F1 pre-season testing: Sebastian Vettel edges Valtteri Bottas on day two

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

Live coverage of testing continues on the BBC Sport website tomorrow from 07:30 GMT
Ferrari and Mercedes have given the first indication that they could be set for another close title battle in 2018.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes were first and second fastest on day two testing at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

Vettel was quickest but Bottas was only 0.303 seconds behind despite using a tyre one grade softer and slower.

Lewis Hamilton had been due to drive in the afternoon but Mercedes kept Bottas in the car to maximise running time.

The world champions wanted to make the most of the brief window of reasonable weather in the middle of the day after a cold start so opted against losing the time that would have been spent adjusting the car to fit Hamilton.

The team said the unpredictable weather meant plans were flexible and that Hamilton had been involved with and agreed with the decision.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was close behind the leading two, the Dutchman fourth fastest and just 0.35secs slower than Bottas on the same medium compound tyre.

"It looks good, the car," Verstappen said. "It is handling good so far. I am happy with the balance of the car. You can always improve it but in terms of lap times we are doing well, so we don't really have big issues. That is a big difference compared to last year."

Bottas was second-fastest on day two in a time of 1:19.976
McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne was third fastest on the day, just 0.001secs quicker than Verstappen, but the Belgian was using the fastest hyper-soft tyre, which is three grades softer than the soft used by Vettel, so the time cannot be directly compared.

Vandoorne did only 37 laps after a problem with the exhaust caused overheating.

It was a second consecutive difficult day for McLaren, for whom Fernando Alonso lost the morning on the first day after a wheel-nut problem caused him to lose a wheel and spin after just six laps.

Vettel was one of three drivers to have off-track incidents during the day. He lost it at Turn One, while Sauber's Charles Leclerc and Haas' Kevin Magnussen also had spins.

"It's very cold. It's very difficult to get the tyres to work and I think everybody is having the same issues," said Vettel.

"The car is working, we didn't have any problems reliability-wise. In terms of performance, I don't know yet, but in terms of general operation it's been very smooth."

All times in pre-season testing are potentially misleading in terms of judging teams' competitiveness because it is impossible to know the specifications in which the teams are running their cars - and tyres, fuel loads and engine settings can all make significant differences to lap times.

However, a pattern looks to be beginning to emerge after two days of testing, despite the unexpectedly cold weather in northern Spain, with the day starting with freezing temperatures, the mercury never rising above five celsius and a few flakes of snow starting to fall towards the end of the day.

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Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull appear at this early stage to have the three fastest cars - as they did last year - while Renault, who were the next quickest team on Tuesday, as they were on Monday, are also looking promising.

McLaren look to be more competitive after their switch from Honda to Renault engines but their insistence on choosing much softer tyres than other teams is making it especially hard to judge them.

Behind Renault's Carlos Sainz in fifth was Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly.

At Williams, former F1 driver Robert Kubica had his first run in an official test since being appointed official reserve and test driver and was 0.327secs quicker than Russian Sergey Sirotkin, who was selected for the race seat ahead of the Pole.

Kubica, who has only partial movement in his right arm as a result of injuries sustained in a rally accident in 2011 that curtailed his F1 career, still believes he can make a full-time return to F1.

Fastest second day pre-season times:

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari one minute 19.673 seconds

2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:19.976

3 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren-Renault 1:20.325 ****

4 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull-Renault 1:20.326

5 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:21.212 *

6 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:21.318 *

7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams-Mercedes 1:21.495 *

8 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams-Mercedes 1:21.822 *

9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India-Mercedes 1:21.841 *

10 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.721 *

10 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas-Ferrari 1:22.727 *

* = time set on soft tyre; ** = time set on super-soft tyre; **** = time set on hyper-soft tyre; all other times on medium

Swami

Swami · Feb 28, 2018

Formula 1 testing: Snow and rain ruins day three of pre-season testing

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

14 minutes ago
From the section Formula 1

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Snow settled on the circuit during day three of winter testing at Circuit de Catalunya
The third day of pre-season testing was a write-off as a result of snow, rain and freezing weather at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The start was delayed for more than three hours because the medical helicopter was unable to fly in the poor conditions after overnight snow.

Only five drivers left the pits and only Fernando Alonso set a timed lap.

McLaren's Alonso was the first out on track and he joked that the "car is performing well in the snow so far".

His fastest time of two minutes 18.545 seconds was a minute off a fast dry lap time as the Spaniard managed 11 laps in total.

Alonso, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley were the only drivers to complete more than one lap - two each for Ricciardo and Hartley - and Ricciardo had a trip through the gravel but was able to extricate his car and return to the pits.

As temperatures climbed slowly above freezing in the afternoon, the early snow and sleet turned to heavy rain, but Ricciardo's mishap emphasised why running was so restricted - teams wanted to avoid risking damaging their cars.

The weather is expected to improve for the final day of this week's first test on Thursday, with highs of 15C predicted on a cloudy day with intermittent showers.

The second and final pre-season test runs from 6-9 March. The opening race is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park on 23-25 March.

Snow also affected the end of the second day of testing on Tuesday.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said: "You don't learn anything. We will never race in this circumstance, and the only thing you do is risk the car.

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"This being the first test of the season, we are lean on spares, and we cannot risk it. And at the moment it does not look much better on Thursday. It is getting warmer but still wet."

Extending the test for an extra day would require the unanimous approval of all 10 teams.

"We can't get two teams to agree on something, never mind 10," Steiner added.

"The big teams do a lot more work in testing so they lose as much as us.

"But to get to Melbourne the smaller teams are always hurt more than the bigger teams who have more resources.

"I am positive that next week will be better - no rain, temperatures up to normal. And then you can do some work."

Fans became creative as they waited for teams to tip-toe out on the track following the snow - here's Hamilton in a back garden, somewhere in Britain.

Swami

Swami · Mar 1, 2018

Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes driver finishes fastest on final day of the first test

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

Lewis Hamilton completed 69 laps on the final day of testing
World champion Lewis Hamilton signed off the first week of pre-season testing with an imposing fastest time.

The Mercedes driver was 0.5 seconds clear of the rest and 0.9s quicker than 2017 title rival, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, despite using a harder tyre.

Pre-season times are notoriously unreliable indicators of form because car specifications are not revealed and many factors can affect performance.

But Hamilton's pace underlines Mercedes' pre-season favourites status.

After three days of unusually cold weather, the teams finally managed some effective running in warmer conditions on Thursday.

McLaren took advantage of the opportunity to finally manage a serious amount of laps after reliability problems affected them on the first two days.

McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who did more than 100 laps before handing over to team-mate Fernando Alonso early in the afternoon, was second fastest, 0.521secs off Hamilton.

But the Belgian was the only driver to use the fastest hyper-soft tyre, which is four grades softer - and in the region of at least two seconds faster - than the medium the Briton used to set his time.

Alonso was fifth fastest, 1.6secs slower than Hamilton, using the super-soft tyre.

It was a good day for McLaren as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne combined to complete a total of 161 laps
Vettel used the soft tyre to set his best time, and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was fourth quickest, 0.076secs slower than the German, on the super-soft.

The mix of tyres underlines the difficulty of reading true competitiveness from the list of headline times - and that's before considering that the teams will also have had varying fuel loads and engine modes, both of which can make significant differences to lap times.

Vettel said he had a "good first impression of the car" but the lack of running in the cold for most of the week meant it was difficult to judge where teams stood.

"So far things are looking OK," the four-time champion said, "but there has been very limited running for everyone so it is very difficult to judge - not just yourself, but also judge compared to the others.

"It is not that important in the first week you just want running but that has been difficult as well.

"Mercedes are the favourites. I think it will be close, very close. Closer than last year would be great. We see from there. It is a long year and a long time from here to the end of the season."

The second and final pre-season test runs from 6-9 March. The opening race is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park on 23-25 March.

Pre-season testing times, day four:

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:19.333

2 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren-Renault 1:19.854 seconds ****

3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:20.241 *

4 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas-Ferrari 1:20.317 **

5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Renault 1:20.929 **

6 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:20.940

7 Lance Stroll (Can) William-Mercedes 1:21.142 *

8 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India-Mercedes 1:21.973 *

9 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull-Renault 1:22.058 *

10 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:22.134 **

11 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:22.507 *

12 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:22.789

13 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.808 *

14 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:23.825 **

15 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams-Mercedes 1:31.979 I

**** = time set on hyper soft tyre; ** = super-soft; * = soft; I = intermediate; all others medium

Swami

Swami · Mar 2, 2018

Formula 1: Inconclusive test leaves few clues for 2018

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

6 hours ago
From the section Formula 1
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World champion Lewis Hamilton ended the test with the fastest time
Sebastian Vettel ended the first pre-season test hopeful that he and his Ferrari team are poised for another tight battle with Mercedes in 2018.

In reality, though, the teams came out of four mostly damp and cold days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, home of the Spanish Grand Prix, with only a vague idea of what shape they might be in with their new cars.

Single-figure temperatures for the first three days of the test, the third day so bad that it snowed in the morning and was effectively a write-off, were followed by one afternoon's dry running in more typical temperatures of around 15C on Thursday.

It was not enough, teams said, to be sure of where they stood. But Vettel at least felt he had seen enough to predict: "Mercedes are the favourites. I think it will be close, very close."

Sure enough, world champion Lewis Hamilton ended the test fastest, his lap time of one minute 19.333 seconds on the final day 0.3secs quicker than the fastest lap achieved by Vettel two days before.

As everyone with even a modicum of interest in Formula 1 knows, headline times in pre-season testing are often an unreliable indicator of true competitive form.

This year, this test, that is even more the case.

So little running was there in representative conditions that tyre supplier Pirelli did not even feel confident enough to release data on the lap-time difference each of its tyre compounds made. Teams themselves admitted to not having a clear idea of where they stood.

But some vague indications were beginning to take shape.

Fastest times of the week
1 Mercedes (Hamilton) 1:19.333 (medium tyre)

2 Ferrari (Vettel) 1:19.673 (soft)

3 McLaren (Vandoorne) 1:19.854 (hyper-soft)

4 Red Bull (Ricciardo) 1:20.179 (medium)

5 Haas (Magnussen) 1:20.317 (super-soft)

6 Renault (Hulkenberg) 1:20.547 (medium)

7 Williams (Stroll) 1:21.142 (soft)

8 Toro Rosso (Gasly) 1:21.318 (soft)

9 Force India (Ocon) 1:21.841 (soft)

10 Sauber (Leclerc) 1:22.808 (soft)

The top three
While a clear competitive order might not have emerged, there was enough evidence - both numerical and verbal - to suggest that the top three teams of last year - Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull - will be the top three teams of this year.

They topped a day each, for a start, and when teams are simply running their cars to understand them as much as they can with limited time, that does mean something.

Exactly where they stand in comparison to each other, though, is not yet clear. But the impression is that Mercedes have a slight edge and Red Bull might have closed the gap on Ferrari a little.

Mercedes were typically impressive. The car looked consistently quick and Hamilton set the fastest time of the test using the 'medium' tyre - the hardest tyre teams used all week, whereas the fastest Ferrari time was using the 'soft'.

The Juan Manuel Fangio memorial statue in Barcelona dusted with snow
And the Mercedes was quick in all sectors of the lap - straights, long, fast corners and slow, short ones. For a car that last season had its limitations on slow-speed tracks and a narrow set-up window that made it difficult to balance across different corner types, that is especially worrying for the opposition. If Mercedes have kept the strengths of the 2017 car and ironed out its weaknesses, as that suggests they might have, the opposition could have a major problem.

That is not necessarily bad news for Ferrari, though, because it was said that there was very little difference between the ultimate lap-time potential of the soft and medium tyres in Barcelona this week.

As for Red Bull, their fastest time was Daniel Ricciardo's 1:20.179 on Monday. But Verstappen did a lap that was almost certainly faster in reality.

The Dutchman's 1:20.326 on Tuesday was set on the ninth lap of a 22-lap run. Fuel-correct that (i.e. subtract the lap-time effect of the minimum fuel weight he must have had on the fastest lap of the run) and it becomes a 1:19.5 - i.e. the same speed as Vettel's fastest lap of the test.

What about the Renault engine?
The big question hanging over the potential for a three-way title battle is the Renault engine in the Red Bull.

After suffering too many failures last year, Renault have made it clear that they are focusing on reliability first this year and performance second.

That's not great, considering they had a performance deficit to Mercedes' and Ferrari's engines last year, although Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul points out that it does not necessarily mean they won't start the season with a stronger engine than they ended the last one.

"Reliability and performance and competitiveness go hand in hand," Abiteboul said. "Last year we had to reduce the performance potential of the engine because of reliability.

"So the target is we need to start the season reliably so we can use the engine to its full potential, which we were not able to do last year. So from a performance perspective the engine should be performing better."

The wider concern, though, is whether Renault have the wherewithal to catch up when they do start to focus on performance.

Renault's big shortfall - both in terms of performance and reliability - is in the hybrid element of their engine. Last year, they ended up being forced to revert to their 2016-specification energy recovery system (Ers) because the new one they were developing could not be made reliable enough.

This year, they have another updated hybrid system in development, but it is not ready for the start of the season - so they will again be using what is now a two-year-old design. They plan to introduce the upgraded Ers later in the season but are not able to say when that might be.

The hope is said to be that it will be around the fifth race of the season, the Spanish GP in early May. They may prefer to wait until they introduce the second of the three permitted engines - which would presumably be at the seventh race of 21 in Canada in June. But at this stage there is no guarantee of when - or even whether - it will appear.

Unless Renault can get on top of this, it could torpedo Red Bull's title hopes before they start - although they could still be able to mix it with Mercedes and Ferrari for wins.

"Our expectation and goal is to try to reduce the gap to the cars ahea of us," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said. "Mercedes are the benchmark, the favourite. If rumours (that they have) 1,000bhp are correct, that is going to put them in a mighty position. But we have made good progress and we hope to be a challenger team particularly at circuits that play to our strengths."

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Some good news for Renault
Abiteboul has made it clear that the Renault works team is the French company's priority, and they appear to have made strong progress over the winter.

The yellow-and-black cars were towards the sharp end of the timing sheets for much of testing. They ran reliably and the team got through a lot of work.

The impression up and down the pit lane is that Renault, at least at the first test, are clearly the fourth fastest team, and in a bit of a no-man's land behind the big three and ahead of everyone else.

With plenty of developments to come on their car, Renault are looking good to make the progress their five-year plan to be title contenders by 2020 dictates.

What about McLaren?

Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren drives into the gravel during day four of pre-season testing
McLaren enter this season with high hopes of returning to relative competitiveness after three dismal years with Honda engines.

They have switched to Renault engines after losing faith with the Japanese company and have been talking about their expectation of being at least able to fight for podiums again.

But attaining a better engine comes with a flip side. McLaren's car can for the first time since 2014 be directly compared with those of other teams, in their case, Red Bull and Renault, both of whom have the same engine.

McLaren admit that this brings pressure but they say they welcome it.

Everyone in F1 accepted that the McLaren was a good chassis last year - although not many felt it was as good as McLaren themselves did. They regularly claimed it was in the general ballpark of the Red Bull.

No one who looked at the lap times drew that conclusion about McLaren this week.

McLaren's performance was especially hard to read because they spent the entire test running on the softest tyres, when most others focused on the soft and medium. This was a deliberate choice based on the weather forecast, McLaren thinking the softer tyres would work better in the cold conditions.

Stoffel Vandoorne set the third-fastest time of the test overall - 0.5secs slower than Hamilton's best - but he was using the softest 'hyper-soft' tyres to do that. There was no official tyre off-set in Barcelona. But at the post-season Abu Dhabi test of 2018-spec tyres, the hyper-soft was more than two seconds quicker than a soft.

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Fernando Alonso did his best, a 1:20.929, on the super-soft tyre. That's quite possibly a de facto quicker lap than Vandoorne's - but 1.6secs slower than Hamilton, who was using a tyre estimated by one team to be around 1.3secs slower.

With this as raw data, the impression up and down the pit lane was that - on the evidence of this week - McLaren have a lot of work to do.

But then it was their first test with a new engine supplier, they had some very public reliability issues - a wheel fell off on the first day; an exhaust clip broke causing significant overheating damage in the engine bay on the second - and may well have had others that were not known about. In that context, it could be that the car was running in a way that compromised its true performance.

In short, it would be wiser to wait before jumping to any conclusions about McLaren's performance.

The others
As for the rest, the midfield battle looks to be close again. Haas set the fastest time of these teams - but Kevin Magnussen used the super-soft to do it. Williams looked OK. Force India looked unexpectedly slow, but then the same could be said of this time last year, and they went on to finish a very impressive fourth in he championship.

Toro Rosso had a very reliable first test with new engine Honda, and were making positive noises about how smoothly it was all going. But they also admitted Honda were still behind on the engine front. The big interest is in where they and McLaren are going to shake out.

And Sauber looked to be adrift at the back, albeit not as far as they were last year.

Swami

Swami · Mar 6, 2018

Formula 1 pre-season testing: More problems for McLaren during second test

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

McLaren managed to get Stoffel Vandoorne back out just before lunch after his car suffered a power problem early on but then he brought the red flag out again in the afternoon
McLaren's hopes of starting the Formula 1 season close to the front have been hit by the latest in a series of problems in pre-season testing.

The car, driven by Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, broke down three times on day one of the final test in Barcelona.

The first two failures were caused by a battery problem, the third a loss of hydraulic pressure.

McLaren completed the fewest laps on Tuesday and Vandoorne was 12th fastest of the 13 drivers taking part.

McLaren headed into the pre-season tests following their switch from Honda to Renault engines with hopes of competing for podium finishes this season.

They split with Honda last season after three seasons of poor performance and reliability and claimed that they had a chassis that was on about the same level as Red Bull.

Relive day one of the second pre-season test

They have expectations of competing this year with the four-time champions, who also use a Renault engine.

Too early to judge or cause for concern?
It is always difficult to judge a team's actual competitive position from pre-season testing because the specification in which the cars are running is not made public.

But, with three days of testing remaining before the first race in Australia on 23-25 March, the McLaren car's apparent lack of reliability and pace is a major concern.

A succession of McLaren-related issues have restricted mileage in testing.

Fernando Alonso lost a wheel after just six laps of the first day of testing last week because a nut had not been tightened properly.

The following day Vandoorne was hit by overheating in the engine bay caused by a broken exhaust clip.

The final two days of the first test were rendered largely useless by poor weather.

Sebastian Vettel clocked a time of 1:20.396 to finish fastest in the morning
The second test started with two early problems in the morning session on Tuesday - the car cut out on its way into the pits after an early run, and then after setting his first lap time, Vandoorne ground to a halt on the pit straight.

He managed eight laps in total in the morning after the team managed to get the car back out just before the lunch break. Vandoorne had increased his tally to 38 laps when the hydraulic problem hit midway through the afternoon. The team were unable to get him out on track again.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said at the end of last week's first test that doing a race distance this week was "key", but the team seem far from that at this stage.

By comparison, Ferrari and Mercedes both did more than 160 laps - nearly three race distances - on Tuesday.

Another year of struggle for Alonso?

Alonso has not won a race or finished on the podium since joining McLaren in 2015
If McLaren's problems continue, it would mean a fourth consecutive wasted season for two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who re-signed for McLaren last autumn in expectation of a better season.

Alonso, winner of 32 grands prix and still regarded at the age of 36 as one of the greatest drivers of his era, left Ferrari at the end of 2014 having lost faith in their ability to win the title again before the end of his contract, which ran to 2016.

But while the Italian team have remained Mercedes' closest challengers in the intervening period - and were title contenders last season - Alonso has been far worse off in the McLaren, his best results a handful of fifth places.

McLaren's troubles have been put in stark relief by Honda's generally reliable running with new partners Toro Rosso, the Red Bull junior team.

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Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly ended the day fifth fastest, behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari, Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and world champion Lewis Hamilton, who took over the Mercedes from Bottas at lunch time.

However, Toro Rosso also hit trouble on Tuesday, the car failing to get out of the pits at all in the afternoon session.

And Verstappen was another driver to stop on track in the afternoon.

Vettel's fastest time of one minute 20.396 seconds was set on the 'medium' tyre and put him 0.2secs ahead of Bottas on the theoretically faster 'soft' tyre. Verstappen was just 0.053secs slower than the Mercedes on the medium.

The opening race of the 2018 season is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park on 23-25 March.

Fastest times, first day, morning session

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:20.396

2. Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:20.596 *

3. Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull-Renault 1:20.649

4. Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:20.808 *

5. Pierre Gasly (Fra) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:20.973 *

6. Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas-Ferrari 1:21.298 *

7. Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams-Mercedes 1:21.588 *

8. Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:21.455 *

9. Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India-Mercedes 1:21.643 *

10. Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.706 **

11. Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:21.738

12. Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren-Renault 1:21.946 **

13. Lance Stroll (Can) Williams-Mercedes 1:22.937 ****

**** = time set on hyper-soft tyre; ** = super-soft tyre; * = soft; all others medium

Swami

Swami · Mar 7, 2018

Formula 1 pre-season testing: McLaren break down again as Red Bull fastest

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

32 minutes ago
From the section Formula 1
24

Ricciardo recorded the fastest lap, but Mercedes appear to have a faster car
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes Lewis Hamilton set the pace on day two of the final pre-season test as McLaren suffered more problems.

Ricciardo edged out Hamilton by 0.353 seconds for fastest time, but the Mercedes was substantially quicker when the cars were on equivalent tyres.

Fernando Alonso was delayed for nearly seven hours after his McLaren broke down because of an oil leak.

It was the latest in a series of reliability problems for the team.

Alonso managed less than a third of the laps done during the day by Ricciardo and the Mercedes and Renault drivers.

Alonso did 47 laps in the morning before stopping out on track after just over two hours of the day's running. The team said they would get him out later in the day - but managed to do so with only 13 minutes to go.

He was on track for only eight minutes before the day was brought to a premature end when rookie Charles Leclerc went off in the Sauber.

McLaren have brought out the red flag on four occasions so far in testing

McLaren's ongoing problems
Alonso's problems made it the fourth of six days of pre-season testing so far on which McLaren have lost significant track time as a result of technical issues.

The team are hoping to be close to the front this season following their switch to Renault engines following three difficult years with Honda.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier insisted the team were on track, and that they were simply suffering the sort of niggles that can be expected in pre-season.

"We have some little issues which we have to fix, but it is just testing. It is part of the process," Boullier said.

"We are on top of this and it is a new partnership with Renault, new packaging, completely new packaging for the car as well. This is testing, give us time - it is fine."

McLaren are not yet close to achieving the main ambition set by Boullier for this week of completing a race distance.

Alonso, who has said he expects his team to be able to challenge for podium positions this season, is due to speak to the media this evening.

The 36-year-old two-time champion did set the fifth fastest time of the day, but he was using the 'hyper-soft' tyre and was 1.8secs behind Ricciardo's pace-setting best on the same rubber.

The pace-setters
Hamilton did not use the hyper-soft tyre, although his team-mate Valtteri Bottas did after taking over the Mercedes for the afternoon session, and was 0.6secs slower than Ricciardo on it.

Hamilton was 0.5secs quicker than Ricciardo on the ultra-soft tyre, and 0.8secs ahead on the medium tyre.

The times are not necessarily directly comparable because the fuel loads and engine modes being used by the car are not made public by the teams and can make a significant different to performance.

Ricciardo said it had been a "good day" and added: "The Mercs still look pretty quick. There are probably a few 10ths in the tyre and their qualifying mode will be a bit more than ours.

"I think they have still got a bit more on the rest but it is not too bad. We are looking pretty good - better than we were 12 months ago."

The fastest Ferrari time was set by Sebastian Vettel, who was fourth overall with a 1:19.541 on the soft tyre, which all the drivers are saying is more or less the same in performance as the medium at Barcelona.

Carlos Sainz was sixth fastest in the factory Renault car - less than 0.2secs behind Alonso but using the medium tyre, which is well over a second slower than the hyper-soft.

Fast times on day two of the final pre-season test

1 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.047 ****

2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:18.400 ***

3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:18.560 ***

4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:19.541 *

5 Brendon Hartley (NZ) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:19.832 ****

6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Renault 1:19.856 ****

7 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:20.042

8 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas-Ferrari 1:20.237 *

9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:20.242 *

10 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams-Mercedes 1:20.349 *

11 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:20.758 **

12 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India-Mercedes 1:20.805 *

13Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:20.919 **

14 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams-Mercedes 1:22.350 *

**** = time set on hyper-soft tyre; ** = super-soft tyre; * = soft; all others medium

Swami

Swami · Mar 8, 2018

Formula 1 pre-season testing: Sebastian Vettel fastest as Ferrari show their hand

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

Sebastian Vettel completed 188 laps on a strong third day of the final test for Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap ever recorded around the Circuit de Catalunya on the penultimate day of pre-season testing.

The German was more than a second quicker than anyone else as Ferrari finally showed their hand before the start of the season later this month.

Kevin Magnussen's Haas was an eye-opening second fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly's equally surprising Toro Rosso.

Lewis Hamilton was only eighth fastest for pre-season favourites Mercedes.

The world champion was more than two seconds slower than 2017 title rival Vettel as his team focused on longer runs and heavy fuel loads.

Pre-season testing times are notoriously unreliable guides to actual form because the specification in which the cars are running is not known. Fuel loads, engine modes and tyre compounds all make a significant difference to performance.

McLaren completed 151 laps, the most the team has done on a single day of a pre-season test in the V6 hyrbid era
After a difficult run of reliability problems in pre-season testing so far, it was a better day for McLaren. The team did more than 100 laps in a day for the first time all winter and Stoffel Vandoorne was sixth fastest overall.

There is still no clear picture of competitiveness going into the first race in Australia on 23-25 March.

But the indications are that Mercedes, who have won the last four world titles, have an advantage over the field, with Ferrari and Red Bull their closest challengers.

Fastest times on the third day of the final pre-season test
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:17.182 ****

2 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas-Ferrari 1:18.360 **

3 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:18.363 ****

4 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:18.675 ****

5 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:18.725 ****

6 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren-Renault 1:18.855 ****

7 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:19.244 ****

8 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:19.296 **

9 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:19.532

10 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams-Mercedes 1:19.629 **

11 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India-Mercedes 1:19.634 ****

12 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull-Renault 1:19.842 *

13 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams-Mercedes 1:20.276 *

**** = time set on hyper-soft tyre; ** = super-soft tyre; * = soft; all others medium

Swami

Swami · Mar 9, 2018

Formula 1 testing: McLaren's Fernando Alonso second on last day in Barcelona

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

1 hour ago
From the section Formula 1
66

Fernando Alonso finished 15th in the drivers' championship in 2017
Fernando Alonso set the second fastest time on the final day of pre-season testing to end two difficult weeks for McLaren on a high.

The two-time champion was 0.563 seconds slower than Kimi Raikkonen, who ensured Ferrari topped the times on both the final two days.

The Finn's time was just short of team-mate Sebastian Vettel's on Thursday.

McLaren still had problems - a turbo failure kept Alonso in the pits for five hours - but he managed 83 laps.

It meant it was a relatively successful final day for McLaren, whose preparations for the season have been hit by a series of reliability problems throughout the eight days of running in Spain.

Racing director Eric Boullier described all the problems as "minor issues", adding: "Very quickly we are going to get back to normal."

Renault's Carlos Sainz was third quickest on the final day, 0.3 seconds behind Alonso on the same 'hyper-soft' tyre and just over 0.2secs ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo on the slower 'super-soft'.

Romain Grosjean continued the Haas team's impressive end to the winter with the fifth quickest time.

Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and world champion Lewis Hamilton were sixth and 11th quickest, concentrating on longer runs on heavier fuel loads.

They will start the new season as favourites in Australia in two weeks' time.

Fastest times, final day, final pre-season test, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:17.221 ****
Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Renault 1:17.784 ****
Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:18.092 ****
Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.327 **
Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas-Ferrari 1:18.412 ***
Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:18.825
Brendon Hartley (NZ) Toro Rosso-Honda 1:18.949 ****
Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India-Mercedes 1:18.967 ****
Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:19.118 ****
Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams-Mercedes 1:19.189 *
Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:19.464 **
Lance Stroll (Can) Williams-Mercedes 1:19.954 *

**** = time set on hyper-soft tyre; ** = super-soft tyre; * = soft; all others medium

Swami

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