Barcelona Test No. 3: Day 2 Recap

Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen took the wheel of the VF-18 on Wednesday for the second and final day of in-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. After teammate Romain Grosjean logged 129 laps Tuesday at the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track, Magnussen tallied 75 laps at the venue where he finished sixth in last Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Magnussen’s best time was a 1:18.274 on his 41st lap while utilizing the Pirelli P Zero Pink hypersoft tire. The time placed Magnussen fourth among the 13 drivers participating in Wednesday’s test. Comparatively, Grosjean’s best time from Tuesday was a 1:18.449, also set on hypersofts.

The morning run plan for Magnussen consisted of early reconnaissance laps followed by ongoing setup work. After an installation lap on the Ice Blue hard tire, Magnussen made a three-lap stint on a used set of White medium tires before reverting back to the hard tire for a three-lap jaunt. Next up was a pair of eight-lap outings on the Red supersoft tire, with a switch to hypersofts for three stints, each of which came on fresh rubber to maximize performance. Magnussen completed the morning session riding on used mediums for another eight laps and closed for the mandatory lunch break with 53 laps in the books.

Magnussen was limited to only 22 laps in the afternoon as a pneumatic pressure issue sidelined the VF-18 just 90 minutes into the session. But in those 22 laps, Magnussen ran three stints on the Yellow soft tire that totaled 19 laps before a switch to the baseline hard tire for three laps.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time (1:16.904) with Scuderia Ferrari’s Antonio Giovinazzi recording the most laps (148).

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“I had a good day today. We were mainly testing tire items. There were lots of interesting things done. We obviously had some kind of issue at the end, which sadly meant we had to stop for the rest of the day. That’s still being investigated. All in all though, it was a good day with some good mileage, especially learning more with the tires.”

Racing resumes with the Monaco Grand Prix May 24-27 at Circuit de Monaco. Round 6 of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship begins with practice on May 24, qualifying on May 26 and the race on May 27.