MPH: To the man trying to fill Christian Horner's shoes: good luck!
Laurent Mekies arrives as Red Bull F1 team principal with a series of immediate challenges to solve and long-term issues to tackle. He'll either sink or swim, says Mark Hughes
First blood to Red Bull, as McLaren hits early trouble
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo headed the timesheets as Formula 1 began in earnest at Barcelona for the opening test of 2018.
His time of 1min 20.179sec eclipsed Valtteri Bottas’ in the Mercedes by less than two-tenths of a second.
As should be expected, there is still plenty of time to be found: 2017’s best was a 1mint18.634sec set by Kimi Räikkonen, who ended the opening session third fastest.
Nico Hülkenberg in the Renault and Brendon Hartley in the Honda-powered Toro Rosso were busiest, setting 73 and 72 laps respectively and finishing the morning fourth and fifth.
The morning began with drama for Fernando Alonso and McLaren, as the Spaniard spun when a wheelnut problem sent him spiralling into the gravel on three wheels. He later returned to the track, posting the eighth-best time in his 10 laps.
The wheels quite literally came off for Fernando Alonso earlier
Just a handful of laps in – not an ideal start to #F1Testing for McLaren #F1 pic.twitter.com/atANeIlr7L
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 26, 2018
Nikita Mazepin, driving the Force India, also brought out the red flags with an off at Turn 4.
The afternoon session will see Lewis Hamilton take over from Bottas in the Mercedes – Carlos Sainz jr replacing Hülkenberg, and Sergey Sirotkin taking over in the Williams.
Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|
Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1min 20.179sec (Medium) | 60 |
Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1min 20.349sec (Medium) | 58 |
Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1min 20.506sec (Soft) | 60 |
Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1min 20.547sec (Medium) | 73 |
Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1min 22.371sec (Soft) | 72 |
Lance Stroll | Williams | 1min 22.452sec (Soft) | 46 |
Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1min 23.092sec (Medium) | 32 |
Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1min 24.202sec (Super) | 10 |
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1min 24.897sec (Medium) | 41 |
Nikita Mazepin | Force India | 1min 25.628sec (Medium) | 22 |
Laurent Mekies arrives as Red Bull F1 team principal with a series of immediate challenges to solve and long-term issues to tackle. He'll either sink or swim, says Mark Hughes
Former McLaren F1 team-mates Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard are set to renew old rivalries in a new Evening with... tour – they told James Elson all about it
In Formula 1, driver contracts may look iron-clad on paper, but history shows that some of its biggest stars have made dramatic early exits
Former McLaren F1 ace told James Elson about his private audience with The Beatles' George Harrison, who played an unreleased grand prix-themed song