When everything seemed written, Lewis Hamilton has placed the paw you do not expect. The Mercedes driver took the best time of the day and the absolute best of the three days of pre-season 2022 Formula 1 tests at Montmelò in Barcelona in one of the last laps available to him.
In the last 12 minutes Hamilton signed the best time with C4 compounds, snatching it from his teammate George Russell, then he filed a few thousandths with the C5 with 7 minutes from the end, giving Mercedes a double that leaves us dumbfounded.
Usually the Silver Arrows were used to staying hidden during the tests before the season. This time, however, a surprising high has arrived. This time, however, must be interpreted well, as well as that obtained by Russell in the middle of the day.
According to what Motorsport.com learned, Russell would have set his best time with a three-quarter full tank. Therefore not a real attempt to attack time. It will be necessary to verify whether Hamilton also set his time in the same conditions as his teammate. Hamilton, in addition to being the fastest of the day, was also the most active driver on the track, collecting 95 laps overall.
Behind the two Mercedes W13s are the two Red Bulls with Sergio Perez ahead of Max Verstappen. The Mexican got his time with C4 compounds, while Verstappen with the C3. 131 laps overall for the RB18, back to grind kilometers after a day, yesterday, less brilliant from the point of view of the distance covered.
Sebastian Vettel is fifth, but was unable to lap in the afternoon due to an oil leak that forced him to park his Aston Martin AMR22 on the track in the morning. The German thus provoked one of the 5 red flags of the day. In this way, Lance Stroll was unable to shoot in the afternoon.
Sixth and seventh time for the Ferraris. 136 laps ringed by Leclerc and Sainz, with the two Red drivers who did not get enticed, working only with C2 and C3 compounds as scheduled. Ferrari also launched a new fund to mitigate the effect of the now famous Porpoising and this seems to have worked. The best times achieved by the two Ferrari drivers came with C3 compounds.
Excellent day also for Alexander Albon: 88 laps for the former Red Bull driver and the eighth fastest time in the Williams FW44 ahead of teammate Nicholas Latifi. Daniel Ricciardo completes the Top 10 after running a lot on wet asphalt. The McLaren driver was one of the few to really take advantage of the opportunity desired and created by Pirelli, namely that of trying the Cinturato Intermedie and Full Wet tires. At mid-day the tankers flooded the track with water and Ricciardo used both compounds a lot.
Alpine was unable to run after the hydraulic problem that stopped Fernando Alonso in the morning. The engineers of the Enstone team were unable to fix the A522 in time to allow the Asturian and Ocon to get back on track. Same goes for AlphaTauri. Pierre Gasly crashed in the morning breaking the front wing and right front suspension. This inconvenience forced Yuki Tsunoda to remain in the pits in the afternoon.
A few more laps for Alfa Romeo, with GuanYu Zhou making 41 laps and Valtteri Bottas just 10. 9 laps for the Haas due to an oil leak that the team was unable to fix.
Pos | Pilot | Team | Time | Gap | Rpm / Tires |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1: 19.138 | 89 / C5 | |
2 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1: 19.233 | + 0.095s | 66 / C5 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1: 19.556 | + 0.418s | 68 / C4 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1: 19.756 | + 0.618s | 59 / C3 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1: 19.824 | + 0.686s | 48 / C5 |
6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1: 19.831 | + 0.693s | 44 / C3 |
7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1: 20.072 | + 0.934s | 86 / C3 |
8 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1: 20.318 | + 1.180s | 88 / C4 |
9 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1: 20.699 | + 1.561s | 13 / C4 |
10 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1: 20.750 | + 1.612s | 80 / C3 |
11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1: 20.827 | + 1.689s | 52 / C3 |
12 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1: 21.242 | + 2.104s | 12 / C3 |
13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1: 21.939 | + 2.801s | 41 / C3 |
14 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1: 22.469 | + 3.331s | 40 / C4 |
15 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 1: 26.229 | + 7.912s | 9 / C3 |
16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1: 30.433 | + 11.295s | 10 / C3 |
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