Formula 1

BOTTAS HAS ENDED THE FINAL DAY OF PRE-SEASON TESTING ON TOP

Published

3 years ago

28/02/2020

Valtteri Bottas has ended the final day of pre-season testing on top of the timesheets, with a lap time of 1:16.196.

No driver failed to beat the fastest time from week one – 1:15.732 – which was set by Bottas on day three. Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were second and third behind the Finn, both less than a tenth down.

Charles Leclerc was fourth, setting the most amount of laps from any driver during the day – a massive 180.

Following the Monegasque driver was reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton whose fastest time was just over two-tenths slower than Bottas’.

Renault’s new driver for 2020, Esteban Ocon, was seventh ahead of Sergio Perez in the Racing Point.

No red flags were deployed during the day, with the biggest drama coming in the morning following a spin into the gravel for Alexander Albon.

However, the Thai-British driver was able to get his car back onto the circuit by himself and return to the pits. He was 14th and last at the end of the day.

Carlos Sainz and George Russell were eighth and ninth respectively, with Daniil Kvyat rounding out the top ten in the AlphaTauri.

The F1 season is set to begin in two weeks’ time at the Australian Grand Prix, where a true understanding of the grid’s pecking order will become clearer.

	driver	team	time	laps
1	Bottas	Mercedes	1:16.196 (C5)	79
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:16.269 (C4)	45
3	Ricciardo	Renault	1:16.276 (C5)	65
4	Leclerc	Ferrari	1:16.360 (C5)	181
5	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:16.410 (C5)	90
6	Ocon	Renault	1:16.433 (C4)	75
7	Pérez	Racing Point	1:16.634 (C3)	154
8	Sainz	McLaren	1:16.820 (C4)	163
9	Russell	Williams	1:16.871 (C3)	146
10	Kvyat	AlphaTauri	1:16.914 (C3)	160
11	Grosjean	Haas	1:17.037 (C4)	86
12	Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	1:17.415 (C3)	115
13	Magnussen	Haas	1:17.495 (C4)	29
14	Albon	Red Bull	1:17.803 (C2)	59