Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen completed their first laps of the Barcelona shakedown on Monday before Isack Hadjar crashed his Red Bull on a rain-affected second day of testing. Ferrari opted to participate on both days of the behind-closed-doors test, with Charles Leclerc completing 66 laps in the morning session.
The conditions on Tuesday proved challenging for the teams, with rain arriving midway through the morning session and necessitating a switch to wet tyres. Hamilton completed 57 laps for Ferrari, while Verstappen ran 26 laps before being replaced by Hadjar. However, the Dutchman's Red Bull eventually crashed at Turn 14 in the final hour of the day, damaging the rear wing and suspension.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies described the conditions as "very tricky" and expressed frustration that Isack's session ended with a crash. Hamilton, on the other hand, was more positive, describing the day as "really productive". He praised his engineers for getting the car to the track in decent shape, despite the challenging conditions.
Ferrari's Leclerc, who ran 66 laps before switching to wet tyres, said that he was satisfied with how their challenger was working. However, Ferrari teammate Karun Chandhok questioned whether Hamilton has been building a relationship with his new race engineer as pre-season testing gets underway.
The teams will likely continue to focus on reliability and systems checks rather than outright performance during the rest of the shakedown.
The conditions on Tuesday proved challenging for the teams, with rain arriving midway through the morning session and necessitating a switch to wet tyres. Hamilton completed 57 laps for Ferrari, while Verstappen ran 26 laps before being replaced by Hadjar. However, the Dutchman's Red Bull eventually crashed at Turn 14 in the final hour of the day, damaging the rear wing and suspension.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies described the conditions as "very tricky" and expressed frustration that Isack's session ended with a crash. Hamilton, on the other hand, was more positive, describing the day as "really productive". He praised his engineers for getting the car to the track in decent shape, despite the challenging conditions.
Ferrari's Leclerc, who ran 66 laps before switching to wet tyres, said that he was satisfied with how their challenger was working. However, Ferrari teammate Karun Chandhok questioned whether Hamilton has been building a relationship with his new race engineer as pre-season testing gets underway.
The teams will likely continue to focus on reliability and systems checks rather than outright performance during the rest of the shakedown.
. And I feel bad for Max Verstappen, crashin' like that, but at least he got to do a few laps and see how his car's gonna handle 
. Ferrari's lookin' good too, Leclerc killin' it with 66 laps in the mornin', can't wait to see what they bring to the table this season 
. And I know some ppl might be wonderin' about Hamilton and his new engineer, but I think he's doin' great, just gotta keep workin' hard and showin' the world what he's made of 
!
! First, you've got rain on day 2 and it's like they're trying to throw everything off track 
. And then there's Isack's crash, that's just reckless 
. I mean, Red Bull should be working on their car, not crashing it after one lap 
. Karun Chandhok is right to question Hamilton's new engineer relationship, because if they're not on the same page, it's gonna be a long season 
. I'm just hoping Lewis' engineers can get the car sorted out and we'll see some actual performance from them 
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. The teams will probably be tweaking and fine-tuning over the next few days, but for now, it's just a bunch of uncertainty 
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. And Ferrari's Leclerc seemed pretty happy with how their car was handling too... but Karun's question about Hamilton's new engineer got me thinking... does he need to chill a bit more? 
! I was really hoping for a smooth test from Red Bull, but I guess that's not gonna be the case this year 
. On a positive note tho, Lewis Hamilton seems to be in good spirits despite the rain and the challenging conditions 
. His engineers did an awesome job getting the Ferrari car ready, I'm excited to see how they'll do at the actual racing season 
. And Karun's question about Hamilton's relationship with his new engineer is a valid one, wonder if that'll affect their performance 
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, especially with Hamilton at the wheel. Charles Leclerc's 66 laps sounds decent, but I guess they're trying to gauge how their new teammate Karun Chandhok will perform together 
. Meanwhile, Red Bull's day was pretty messy - that crash by Isack Hadjar is a major concern 
It's crazy how quickly things can change, especially with all these new drivers coming in. I mean, look at Hamilton and Verstappen going head-to-head - it's gonna be a wild ride this season! 
My only worry is that Ferrari might be trying too hard to keep up with Red Bull - they need to focus on reliability if they wanna make it through the whole season without any major setbacks.
like who expects that on a test day? 
but yeah, ferrari seemed to be getting their car sorted pretty quickly. leclerc ran some serious laps too 
But for real, it's great to see Ferrari coming out strong, 66 laps from Leclerc? That's what I'm talking about! 
And Hamilton's comments about the day being productive, yeah he's trying to put on a good show but we all know how that works 
. Red Bull's mishap with Hadjar and then Verstappen's crash is a major bummer tho 
. But reliability and systems checks, yeah let's see how that plays out. I think Ferrari might have an edge going into the actual season but Red Bull needs to step up their game ASAP 
his crash aint nothin compared to leclerc getting 66 laps in on day one... and whats up with ferrari not being more aggressive? theyre just testing for reliability now? dont get me wrong, its good that the teams are focusing on systems checks but can we have some drama for once? 
but I feel bad 4 karun chandhok, he's just expressin his concerns & wantin the best 4 hamilton