Lewis Hamilton finished Formula 1’s first pre-season test at Barcelona with the quickest time of the week for Ferrari on Friday, as he put together a strong lap late on.
At the end of a five-day session where all the indications had previously pointed to Mercedes being well ahead, Hamilton produced a 1m16.348 seconds lap as track conditions ramped up on the final evening to end the week on top.
That lap put him just less than one tenth of a second ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell, who had been quickest on Thursday but was absent for the final day because his team had used up its allocated three days.
While testing times can be deceptive because fuel loads vary, that Ferrari was able to show some promise and prove reliable will be a boost to the squad and its drivers.
Earlier this week, Hamilton suggested that Ferrari was in a much better position than it had been 12 months ago, as it built up then to what proved to be a troubled campaign.
“Last year, we had a worse start to testing,” he said. “So this is actually, considering this a completely new band of rules, it's better than we've experienced in the past. So I'm really hopeful that continues.”
Hamilton’s closest challenger was McLaren’s Lando Norris, who rounded off a much better day for the world champion squad that had missed a lot of running on Thursday because of a fuel system problem.
Norris’s best lap of 1m16.594s just edged out Charles Leclerc’s fastest time from the morning of 1m16.653s, with Oscar Piastri ending up fourth quickest from his Friday morning effort.
Max Verstappen drove all day for Red Bull, as the team got back into action for the first time since Isack Hadjar’s crash on Tuesday.
The Dutchman completed 118 laps over the course of the day with a best lap of 1m17.586s that put him fifth overall.
The busiest man of the day though was Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who completed a total of 164 laps in his new Mercedes-powered car. The Frenchman concluded a fairly positive week for the Enstone-based outfit, even if it remains unsure about its overall competitiveness just now.
The main local interest surrounded Fernando Alonso, who got through a full day’s programme in the new Aston Martin AMR26.
The Spaniard’s best time of the day had been produced in the morning, but his team will be pleased to have got 61 laps under its belt without major drama after the early problem that blighted Lance Stroll's debut outing on Thursday.
Unofficial day five times
1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m16.348s (67 laps)
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m16.594s (86 laps)
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m16.653s (78 laps)
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m17.446 (80 laps)
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m17.586s (118 laps)
6 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m17.707s (164 laps)
7 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m18.393s (85 laps)
8 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m18.423s (105 laps)
9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 1m19.870s (78 laps)
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 1m20.179s (67 laps)
11 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m20.795s (61 laps)
12 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 1m20.920s (54 laps)
