Fansided

F1 testing times: Ferrari feeds hype machine with strong showing in Barcelona

By Alicia de Artola

Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari at F1 testing in Barcelona. (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari at F1 testing in Barcelona. (Eric Alonso/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

F1 testing in Barcelona got going on Wednesday with a strong showing from Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.

Coming into the 2022 Formula 1 season, plenty of people have their money on Scuderia Ferrari as a title contender thanks to their exciting driver lineup and the even playing field of new regulations.

On Wednesday, the Ferrari car and drivers made the case for that hype looking pretty real.

While McLaren’s Lando Norris went fastest of all drivers, he did so on the softer C4 compound.

Charles Leclerc placed second, going faster than all the other medium compound C3 runners. Carlos Sainz wasn’t far behind him.

Ferrari has to be feeling excellent coming out of the first day of testing with both drivers in the top three of the timing chart.

F1 testing times from Day 1 in Barcelona

  1. Lando Norris (McLaren) — 1:19.568 on C4s in 98 laps
  2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) — 1:20.165 on C3s in 80 laps
  3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) — 1:20.416 on C3s in 69 laps
  4. George Russell (Mercedes) — 1:20.784 on C3s in 77 laps
  5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) — 1:20.929 on C3s in 50 laps
  6. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Marton) — 1:21.276 on C3s in 52 laps
  7. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) — 1:21.638 on C3s in 116 laps
  8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) — 1:21.746 on C3s in 141 laps
  9. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) — 1:22.246 on C2s in 147 laps
  10. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) — 1:22.572 on C3s in 23 laps
  11. Alex Albon (Williams) — 1:22.760 on C3s in 66 laps
  12. Mick Schumacher (Haas) — 1:22.962 on C3s in 19 laps
  13. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) — 1:23.327 on C3s in 63 laps
  14. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) — 1:23.379 on C3s in 66 laps
  15. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) — 1:24.505 on C2s in 20 laps
  16. Robert Kubica (Alfa Romeo) — 1:25.909 on C3s in 9 laps

Mercedes got a good showing from George Russell, who went faster than his new teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Reigning drivers’ champion Max Verstappen was out on the track the longest, putting in 147 laps in his Red Bull while testing out the hard compound C2 tires.

Robert Kubica only got to run nine laps in the Alfa Romeo while Valtteri Bottas had just 23 laps in his debut with the team. Mechanical issues limited the track time for both drivers.

Haas had a similar issue with Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin combining for only 39 laps.

Next. Key dates and F1 schedule for 2022. dark