The final and sixth day of the F1 2020 testing provided teams an overall outlook of their strengths and weaknesses ahead of the season opener in Melbourne.
Unlike yesterday when 13 drivers tested their cars under tricky conditions, the final day saw 14 drivers.
The highlight of the day was Valtteri Bottas finishing the day with the quickest lap time, clocking a 1m16.196s for Mercedes, a tenth up on Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put up some serious miles – the most by any driver on testing day. Leclerc, who completed a total of 177 laps also posted the fourth-fastest time on a C4 soft compound.
Red Bull’s Alexander Albon got it all wrong in turn 12 as he went in too hot, losing the rear and spinning into the gravel. However, he avoided any red flags by managing to get the RB16 out of the rocks back into his team’s pit.
Kimi Raikonnen of Alfa Romeo also took his car for a little spin due to his cold tyres and another driver who suffered a similar fate was Romain Grosjean of Haas.
Except for Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who finished the fastest in the final day’s morning session, the top teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull dominated the top of the charts.
However, Ricciardo managed to finish third behind flying Finn Bottas and Max Verstappen. The Dutchman posted the second quickest time of the day (1m16.269s) with an attempt for glory in the last hour but failed to topple Bottas.
Meanwhile defending F1 champion Lewis Hamilton made up for lost time completing 90 laps and finishing fifth. Esteban Ocon sneaked into sixth behind Hamilton to finish on a decent note for Renault.
Sergio Perez also made the most out of pre-season by spending time in the middle finishing 153 laps. Perez finished ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, who completed 159 laps – the second highest in the pre-season tests.
George Russel of Williams and Daniil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri respectively finished off the top-ten list while Grosjean, Raikkonen, and Albon had a pretty bad day at the office.
The F1 pre-season testing stream is available on F1 TV and the Formula One website while updates are consistently shared on their social media handles.
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