Ricciardo sends Renault top as F1 testing pace ramps up on final day
Daniel Ricciardo set the second-fastest time of Formula 1 pre-season testing to send Renault to the top of the timesheets on the final mඣorning of running at Barcelona.
Times tumbled around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as teams began to stretch their legs and provided a first real glimpse of their one-lap potential with attention shifting to perfo꧃rmance work on the final day of winter testing before next month’s Australian Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo set the second-fastest time of Formula 1 pre-season testing to send Renault to the top ꦰof the timesheets on the f🦂inal morning of running at Barcelona.
Times tumbled around the Circuit de Barcelona-C🐠atalunya as teams began to stretch their legs and provided a first real glimpse of their one-lap potential with attention shifting to performance wor💫k on the final day of winter testing before next month’s Australian Grand Prix.
Amid a flurry of action in the final hour of the morning session as drivers switched onto Pirelli’s softest available C5 compound, Ricciardo posted Renault’s best lap time of the w🥂inter on a 1m16.276s.
Ricciardo pipped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to top spot by just 0.084s, with Lewis Hamilton third in the time♏sheets as he returned to action for Mercedes after an engine issue curtailed his running on the penultimate day.
The reigning world champion logged a strong haul of 90 laps on his way🧔 to finishing 0.134s off the pace and just 0.050s adrift of🌸 Leclerc in his final outing of testing. Ferrari and Mercedes were recorded at around 10kph slower through the speed traps compared to Ricciardo’s Renault at the time the fastest laps were completed.
Sergio Perez was fourth-quickest and just under four-tenths behind for Racing Point, whi💟le early sess🎉ion pacesetter Carlos Sainz managed 65 laps and took fifth spot in his McLaren.
Sixth place went the way of George Russell, who turned in Williams’ quickest lap of testing so far to end the morning just 0.595s off Ricciardo’s benchmark, while AlphaTauri’s Daniil ꦕKvyat and Haas driver Romain Grosjean were also within a second of the pace 🌳in seventh and eighth respectively.
Kimi Raik🐽konen recovered from an early spin to finish ninth, ahead of Alexander Albon, who saw his single-lap performance run hampered by a spin at Turn 12. The British-born Thai managed to escape from the gravel in his Red Bull but subsequently propped up the order in 10th.
The fi♊nal four-hour session of the 2020 pre-seaﷺson begins at 1400 hours local time (1300GMT) with Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen taking over driving duties for their respective teams.
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