Testing report
Formula 1
Webber sets fastest lap on opening day of final testing at Barcelona
The final Formula One preseason testing is underway at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. The weather was a mix of rain showers and gusty winds, but they ended the day on a dry track.
Nancy Knapp Schilke
Edited: Feb 28, 2013, 7:33 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Mark Webber turned a lap of 1:22.693 toward the final minutes of the afternoon session on the 4.655km Circuit de Catalunya. The Australian placed his Infiniti Red Bull-Renault over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 1.655 of a second. As it turned out the teams actually had just one hour at the end to set the fastest laps. Webber was on the soft-compound Pirelli tyres on a dry track when he turned the top laptime of the day.
He also toured the circuit for 90 laps in the RB9, and despite the heavy winds in Barcelona, Spain, Webber commented on the day: “It was pretty heavy, I must say. There was a big tailwind down to Turn One and in other sections it was pretty dusty. The level of wind wasn’t trivial but to be honest it was tricky enough anyway because of the greasy conditions on the track.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W04 passes a rainbow
Photo by: XPB Images
Hamilton’s time was a 1:24.348 with a total of 113 laps. In the dry conditions, the Briton was on the Pirelli intermediate tyres, and toward the final laps was using the medium compound tyres. “The track started out really wet this morning but thankfully the conditions dried out later on and we were able to complete some proper running. It felt good to work through the race simulation this afternoon; both to get myself back in practice and to put valuable miles on the car,” he said.
Hamilton made the change to the Mercedes works team this year and he said, “All the guys have done a fantastic job both here and at the factory. I'm really happy that we're making progress together and very much enjoying working with everyone. The last couple of days of pre-season testing are always really exciting when everyone starts to add their upgrades so I'm looking forward to the weekend.”
Third today was a surprise as Jean-Eric Vergne set his best lap at 1:25.017 in the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR8. Like the other teams, Vergne spent most of the day on rain tyres and intermediates, which was good since Pirelli had made changes to their wet weather tyres for the 2013 season. Vergne and the team engineers were able to do aerodynamic work, including the evaluation of a few new components.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR8
Photo by: XPB Images
Vergne commented: “Not the best of days, because we had many things to test and the rain meant we were not able to get that much done, but we have to remember that the other teams have similar programmes and the rain affects everyone. The car seems to behave really well in the wet and it also felt good in the dry, during the few laps I managed at the end of the day.”
There are three more days left for the teams to complete their development work and evaluate new components and setups. The Australian Grand Prix is looming closer.
Unofficial times
Pos. Driver Car Time Laps1 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:22.693 902 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.348 1133 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:25.017 594 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.458 855 Sergio Perez McLaren 1:26.538 1006 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:26.574 927 Paul Di Resta Force India 1:27.107 578 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:27.541 1129 Max Chilton Marussia 1:28.166 7810 Charles Pic Caterham 1:28.644 8311 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:34.928 52
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Adrian Sutil completes Sahara Force India’s 2013 line-up
Next article Gutiérrez had a positive first day of testing on Circuit de Catalunya
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Nancy Knapp Schilke
Whincup takes his fifth V8 Supercars championship
Supercars
Supercars
Whincup takes his fifth V8 Supercars championship
Perez beats McLaren on his departure
Formula 1
Formula 1
Perez beats McLaren on his departure
Tiga Race Cars share first peek of their LM214
WEC
WEC
Tiga Race Cars share first peek of their LM214
More from
Felipe Massa
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Formula 1
Formula 1
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
More from
Ferrari
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Fred Vasseur "not sure" if Red Bull is currently F1's best team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Fred Vasseur "not sure" if Red Bull is currently F1's best team
Latest news
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 18 min
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
27 min
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
51 min
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
7 h
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe