Pre-Season Testing: Day 3 Recap

Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg strengthened the team’s lap tally by an additional 169 tours on Friday to make a final total of 441 laps – 2,386.70 kilometers (1483.03 miles) recorded across the three days prior to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix February 29 – March 2. 

Magnussen was first out to run in the morning – the session red flagged just 30 minutes into proceedings as the track surface needed lengthy repairs. With the lunch break removed from the day’s schedule in order to recoup lost mileage, the track went green and the Dane was able to rack-up 80 laps in the VF-24. Having performed both qualifying sims and race stints, and totalling 239 laps across the test, Magnussen’s fastest lap of 1:33.053 put him P16 on the timesheets. 

Nico Hulkenberg wrapped up the on-track test action steering the VF-24 from the afternoon into the evening in Bahrain. The German clocked 89 laps, bringing his personal lap count to 202. With a successful race distance sim completed, Hulkenberg and the crew ended the test with full crew pit-stops through the final hour of track time, and finished P11 on the day with a best lap of 1:31.686. 

Ayao Komatsu – Team Principal:

“So today we completed our first qualifying sim, looking at the low-fuel car balance, and then we completed two race simulations – one with Kevin, one with Nico. We successfully achieved all of this, despite the track issues today. It’s been a very, very good day basically. Our race simulations show that yes, we’ve got lots more work to do, but at the same time we’ve got a base car that we can actually race. Considering the qualifying performance – we haven’t worked on it at all, today was our first time looking at it, but again, it was decent. We’ve had a very good start to the season with all this preparation in testing. I’m very happy and my thanks to everyone on the team.”
 

Kevin Magnussen:

“You never get all the answers you need and you always want more time, as three days of testing – and splitting those days with two drivers – is limiting. Given the limited time, I think we’ve done a lot, got some good impressions of the car and the focus is trying to be good on Sunday. We’ve been doing a lot of high-fuel race running, trying to address that issue, and I think we’re going somewhere. We haven’t fixed the issue completely but hopefully it’s enough to make a difference on Sunday. I expect it to be very close between all teams again this year.”

 

Nico Hulkenberg:

“Today we got through the program and did what we wanted to do, so that was good. We completed a race run as well - I haven’t seen it compared to anyone else’s – but now we’ve got lots of impressions after three days of testing, lots of data and things to analyze. We’ve been able to do some experiments like most, as that’s what you do in testing, and it’s been good, positive. I have no idea where we stand, or what it’s worth, but we’ll get that answer in a week. It’s early days, but from in the car, from where I sit, if I compare the car to last year, it does feel better and like we’ve made a step in the right direction.”

 

Today's Data

Event: Bahrain Pre-Season Test – Friday February 23
Location: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
Layout: 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn track
Drivers: Kevin Magnussen (MAG) / Nico Hulkenberg (HUL)
MAG: Time / Laps / Distance: 1:33.053 / 80 laps / 432.96 kilometers (269.03 miles)
HUL: Time / Laps / Distance: 1:31.686 / 89 laps / 481.67 kilometers (299.30 miles)
Most Laps: 121 laps by Alex Albon of Williams