Bottas ends Sunday P1 but world champions have clear pace advantage heading to Melbourne for March 15 season-opener
Tuesday 10 March 2015 10:21, UK
Williams set the fastest time as pre-season testing drew to a close on Sunday, with pacesetters Mercedes signing off at the Circuit de Catalunya in more muted fashion.
Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets with a 1:23.063 on supersoft tyres to go four tenths quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari, also on supersofts.
That meant the 1:22.792 set by Nico Rosberg on Friday remains the quickest time set in Barcelona this winter. However, the fact it was set on softs amply demonstrates Mercedes’ performance advantage ahead of the start of the new season; little wonder, then, that they spent yet more time working on the W06’s reliability.
Rosberg was back in the cockpit on Sunday and completed 148 laps in all – not straying beyond medium tyres the whole time besides a few late practice starts on scrubbed softs. The combination of speed and stamina comes as little surprise, of course, although Toto Wolff’s revelation to Sky Sports F1 that they have used the same power unit throughout pre-season testing (completing over 6,000km) certainly offers a fresh perspective.
So if the Silver Arrows are razor sharp, then what about the rest? Like the world champions, Williams appear set to pick up where they left off in Abu Dhabi, with Bottas logging a steady 89 laps and his team packing up 90 minutes before the chequered flag fell.
Job done for the Grove team. At that stage, Vettel was still piling on laps in his efforts to complete his first race simulation of the winter. That target duly achieved, Ferrari head Down Under as the team most likely to have made gains with their SF15-T who completed a race simulation during the afternoon session.
“From a performance point of view, it’s clear that Mercedes is still ahead by quite a way, but right behind there is us, Williams and Red Bull, all very close," said Vettel.
Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have also lapped quicker than either Daniel Ricciardo or Daniil Kvyat. So much for being ‘best of the rest’: neither of Red Bull’s drivers have even featured in the top 10 overall across the two weeks, although Ricciardo was P5 on Sunday behind Felipe Nasr’s Sauber and Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso.
Red Bull suffered delays in the morning after ERS problems forced Ricciardo's RB11 to grind to a halt at the end of the pitlane. The Australian recovered to complete a total of 72 laps, with the former champions staying on after the test and using their two permitted 'filming days' to complete extra mileage.
Consdering it was only debuted on Friday, Force India need to add as much mileage to the VJM08 as they possibly can. As such, they'll be pleased with Sergio Perez's tally of 130 laps with the Mexican ending the day sixth fastest ahead of Rosberg.
McLaren, meanwhile, ended their pre-season programme in much the same fashion as they started with Jenson Button eighth fastest, over 2s off Bottas' pace after missing most of the morning's running. Button completed just 30 laps to bring his pre-season preparations to a close.
Pastor Maldonado, meanwhile, lost most of the final afternoon after a brake problem on his E23 sent him into the tyre barrier at Turn Four. Lotus explained that a "systems issue" compromised the car's braking and Maldonado was unable to slow sufficiently to make the right-handed corner.
Barcelona Test Two, Day Four Timesheet:
1) Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:23.063, 89 laps
2) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:23.469, 129 laps
3) Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:24.023, 159 laps
4) Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:24.527, 85 laps
5) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:24.638, 72 laps
6) Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:25.123, 130 laps
7) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1:25.186, 148 laps
8) Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:25.327, 30 laps
9) Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1:28.272, 36 laps.
