Just after the clock at 9 a.m. the Formula 1 drivers turned up en masse on the Spanish asphalt for various installation laps. Max Verstappen waited a while, but then he kicked the gas and drove round after lap. After four hours of testing, 91 laps were behind his name. The Red Bull driver rode almost the entire day on the hardest tires, but clocked great times.
The focus at Red Bull was on driving as many laps as possible, while Verstappen was on the road with the necessary fuel. It was clear in the afternoon that he did visit the limit of the new RB16 in various rounds. Verstappen spun twice in the latter sector, but without damage he could continue his way. It seemed that Red Bull was experimenting with the height of the car, with the front very close to the asphalt. The team spent a lot of time adjusting the car and the turning vanes at the bottom of the car.
At the front of the field it was Mercedes that led with Valtteri Bottas in the morning and Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon. Bottas used the medium band for this, but Hamilton set the fastest time in the afternoon on the hard band. The German superpower impressed by not only being lightning fast during the long runs, but also being flawless in terms of reliability.
Ferrari used a different approach than in previous years, in which it always dominated the time lists. This time no super-fast lap times from Charles Leclerc, who replaced the sick Sebastian Vettel, but in the middle bracket. Leclerc lost tracktime in the afternoon due to technical problems.
The entire field was considerably closer to each other than in previous years, and it is a boost for Williams that it seems to have found a connection with the rest of the field. A year ago the team had to miss the first test days after problems with the car. The test day went without significant problems and all teams rode more than 100 laps.
At the end of the day it was Hamilton who scored the fastest time on the C2-band, for Bottas (C3), Perez (C3) and Verstappen (C3). The Red Bull driver completed no less than 167 laps. Mercedes managed a total of 173 laps with Hamilton and Bottas and Ferrari 132.
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