F1 Testing 2019: Day 3 Report

Daniil Kvyat was the surprise pace-setter, Mercedes completed almost fifty more laps than any other team and Williams finally made it out on track. Here’s all the action from Day 3 of Winter Testing!

Taking part in the third day of testing were Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo, Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz at McLaren, Sergio Perez at Racing Point, Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso. Haas, Mercedes and Renault all split their driving duties for the day. Pietro Fittipaldi, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg drove in the morning sessions, while Romain Grosjean, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo took over in the afternoon.

Williams finally made an appearance in testing today. Their FW42 arrived at the circuit at 4am this morning, with George Russell taking the car out for an install lap in the afternoon, before going on to put in a further 22 laps later in the session.

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Today’s test was held in slightly more overcast and cooler conditions than in the previous two days. McLaren didn’t run much in the morning session due to overnight changes on the MCL34. Carlos Sainz went on to complete 24 laps in the morning when he eventually made it out on track. The Spaniard had a few scrapes today. He spun off the track in the final sector this morning, hitting a cone, but was able to recover himself from the gravel and return to the pits. Sainz also lost some bodywork in the afternoon session by running over the kerbs at Turn 9.

It was a relatively drama free day, aside from at Haas, who were the perpetrators of three red flag periods. Pietro Fittipaldi came to a halt half way through the morning session, and Romain Grosjean stopped on track just fifteen minutes into the afternoon session. The team blamed an ignition-coil related issue for the stoppage, leaving the Frenchman stuck in the garage for a couple of hours. He went on to complete 69 laps but then came to a halt again, bringing the afternoon session to a premature end.

At Renault, Nico Hulkenberg drove in the morning session without DRS following Daniel Ricciardo’s rear wing failure yesterday morning. Ricciardo returned to the track this afternoon and used DRS, suggesting whatever issues the team had have been fixed.

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Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap this morning, where he got the week’s benchmark down to a 1:17.704 on the softest C5 tyre. He remained as fastest until the closing hour of the day, when Daniil Kvyat put the Honda-powered Toro Rosso at the top of the timesheet. Similarly to Raikkonen, Kvyat set his time on the C5 tyre, lapping with a 1:17.704. Ferrari remained strong today too. Kvyat set the fastest sector times in the first and second sectors, but Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the final sector.

It was Mercedes who completed the most laps, with 182 laps in total – the most seen from any team during the three days of testing so far. McLaren, Racing Point and Williams were the only teams to fail to complete less than a century of laps.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

DRIVER REACTION TO DAY 3:

We end the day in P7 with a 1:19.060 and 69 laps. Looking forward to going out again tomorrow! @HaasF1Team @rich_energy #F1Testing #F1 #R8G pic.twitter.com/t0G6fv2nwv

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) February 20, 2019

First race distance this morning with the @MercedesAMGF1 #W10 🏁#VB77 #F1 #F1testing pic.twitter.com/pHpTvgaamq

— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) February 20, 2019

After a huge effort from everyone back at Grove and here in Barcelona…

…finally, the @WilliamsRacing FW42 has hit the circuit!

It’s not been the ideal start but I promise, we’re going to make the best of it!

Bring it on 👊 #GR63 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ONRZaYIzar

— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) February 20, 2019

WINTER TESTING DAY 3 RESULT:

Testing continues at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya tomorrow. Follow @LightsOutF1Blog on Twitter for live updates throughout the day!