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Analysis: What can we conclude from two weeks of F1 winter tests?
The Formula 1 winter tests have finished for another year. The next time we'll see the 2020 F1 cars will be around Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. Ahead of that race in two weeks time, we will have had a look back at the Barcelona statistics so we can see if anyone has an advantage.
Fastest laps
Immediately, we reach an eye-opening statistic. The fastest time set was not on the final day. The has often been the case in years gone by. Valtteri Bottas posted a 1:15.732 on the C5 tyres the previous Friday. A time that wasn't reached in the second week. Alfa Romeo was twice the fastest of the day with Kimi Raikkonen and with Robert Kubica. An overview of the fastest times in the two test weeks:
Bottas - 1: 15,732
Verstappen - 1: 16,269
Ricciardo - 1: 16,276
Leclerc - 1: 16,360
Hamilton - 1: 16,410
The Alfa Romeo is therefore not in the top five fastest times. We only see the first Alfa Romeo time in position twelve. Haas has had two tough test weeks and seems to be lagging behind somewhat. It was the only team that did not manage to run under 1: 17,000, although that does not say everything.
Mercedes - 1: 15,732
Red Bull - 1: 16,269
Renault - 1: 16,276
Ferrari - 1: 16,360
Racing Point - 1: 16,634
McLaren - 1: 16.820
Williams - 1: 16.871
AlphaTauri - 1: 16.914
Alfa Romeo - 1: 16.942
Haas - 1: 17.037
That’s it, testing is over! @Nico_QvU claims it will be a two-horse race this year - and that doesn’t include Ferrari! #F1 #F1Testing #ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/5kVLHJFGKI
— GPblog.com (@GPblog_com) February 28, 2020
Reliability
The reliability of the cars has improved considerably. Where we saw 26 red flags in 2019, there were only twelve in 2020. There were even two full days during which the red flag didn't drop.
Lewis Hamilton led the list with the most laps. He finished with a total of 466. McLaren driver Carlos Sainz recorded 20 fewer laps in second place. The least laps were driven by Robert Kubica, but he also spent only two half days in the car. If we look at drivers who will appear on the starting line-up in Australia, Kevin Magnussen has by far the least time with 250 laps. His teammate Romain Grosjean was able to drive 149 laps more.
The Haas F1 Team did not experience the strong test weeks they had hoped for. Partly due to a very weak third test day where only 52 laps were driven, the team came to a total of 649.
This while Mercedes had driven the most laps with 903. Red Bull came out with a total of 780 laps.
Victory for Williams
The number of test days were reduced in 2020. Just six days instead of the eight we've seen previously. In 2019 Williams missed the first two days and so they only had six test days. The team drove 170 laps more than last year.
Of the ten teams, eight managed to improve their 2019 time. Williams managed to beat it by 1.259 seconds. Racing Point was almost a second faster than last year and Red Bull also did very well, they managed to finish 0.822 seconds of their time last year.
No improvement among the Italians
The only two teams that were no faster than in 2019 are AlphaTauri and Ferrari. AlphaTauri was slightly slower than last year with a difference of 0.032 seconds. Ferrari made the least progress of all teams and lost 0.139 seconds on their 2019 time.