Lewis Hamilton led a one-two from new team-mate George Russell as Mercedes produced a strong finish to testing in Barcelona; Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen were third and fourth for Red Bull; Alpine and Aston Martin among teams hampered by reliability issues
Last Updated: 25/02/22 5:21pm
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of Formula 1’s first 2022 pre-season test to seal a Mercedes one-two ahead of Red Bull, as several teams were hampered by reliability issues on the third and final day in Barcelona.
Billed officially as a ‘shakedown’ rather than official testing – which follows in Bahrain next month – the event marked the start of a new era for F1 in 2022’s much-changed cars, but ended with familiar names at the top of the timesheet.
After McLaren and Ferrari had displayed the most speed on the first two days, it was the teams that contested last season’s world championship who returned to the top of the timesheet on Friday, with Hamilton taking first from his new team-mate George Russell in the final minutes of the afternoon session.
Sergio Perez was third ahead of his Red Bull team-mate and world champion Max Verstappen in fourth, on a day where the rival teams both produced very healthy lap counts to go along with their strong times.
There was more quality work for Ferrari and McLaren, who each completed well in excess of 100 laps on Friday and can head to Bahrain, which also hosts the opening Grand Prix of the season, next month with plenty of optimism.
However, Alpine, Aston Martin, AlphaTauri and Haas all endured a disappointing end to the week, with a variety of issues severely limiting their track time, and contributing to five red flags in the morning session.
More to follow…
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