Barcelona Test No.1: Day 1 Recap
February 18, 2019
Date: Monday, February 18
Location: Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, Spain
Layout: 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn circuit
Driver: Romain Grosjean
Laps Completed: 65 laps
Distance Completed: 302.575 kilometers (187.98 miles)
Best Lap Time: 1:19.159 (3rd overall)
Fastest Lap: 1:18.161 by Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari
Most Laps: 169 laps by Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari
Romain Grosjean commenced testing for Rich Energy Haas F1 Team on a sun-kissed Monday at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. The Frenchman exited the garage promptly at 9 a.m. local time as the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile) track opened for the day. By the time the checkered flag fell Grosjean had 65 laps recorded behind the wheel of the Ferrari-powered VF-19.
Grosjean’s best time was a 1:19.159, earned on his 56th lap on a set of the yellow-walled C3 Pirelli tire compound. The time put Grosjean third among the 11 drivers participating in the first day of testing.
The day’s early running was thwarted just 12 laps into the program due to a fuel pressure loss on the VF-19. An eventual return to the track in the final minutes of the morning session saw Grosjean add a further six laps to his tally before the mandatory lunch break.
The afternoon plan included four timed stints with Grosjean utilizing the C3 compound for a total of 40 laps, the last outing of the set delivering his fastest lap of the day. One final 7-lap run, to give the softer C4 tires a debut, took Grosjean to the end of the session.
Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the day’s quickest time (1:18.161) and ran the most laps (169)
Teammate Kevin Magnussen takes over the Haas VF-19 on Tuesday, with Grosjean and Pietro Fittipaldi splitting driving duties on Wednesday before Fittipaldi and Magnussen complete the first week of testing on Thursday.
Romain Grosjean:
“I think we can be happy enough with our day, in terms of the car’s feeling. We didn’t have a smooth run in the morning, but saying that, the afternoon went better. We had lost a fair bit of track time, but we recovered to put in some good runs. The team’s done a good job again to produce a car that’s very nice to drive. There’s more work to do obviously, we need to understand the car, but at the minute I’m very happy with what we’ve got.”
Guenther Steiner:
“Not the best day today. In the morning we had an issue with the control of the fuel pumps, which forced us to stop out on the track. That lost us some time. We made some of that back up in the afternoon and got some running in. We can start to understand the car, but it’s much too early to see how good we are.”
Ends