23/02/2015
NEWS STORY
Commenting on the site in reference to the times posted by drivers on Friday, a reader questioned why the media bothers; claiming that "going on about fastest times is meaningless ".
In many ways the reader is correct, for there are many unknowns that have to be taken into consideration, not least fuel loads.
Furthermore, there are other aspects of the car that are not scrutinised like they are at Grands Prix, meaning that the times can give a false impression. This is particularly important, for example, if a team is looking to impress a potential sponsor, and has led to what Maurizio Arrivabene referred to on Friday as the "winter championship".
As he quite rightly said, there are no points, no real glory, for topping the timesheets at Barcelona on a bright and crisp day in February, when the same car can barely make it into Q2 come Melbourne.
That said, a team would rather be one second off the pace heading to the season opener than four seconds. Furthermore, where lap times in testing really do come in handy is when we look at the tyres being used. For example, Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado posted the first and third quickest times over the four days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya. The Frenchman's best time was 1.165s quicker than Lewis Hamilton's pole time for last year's Spanish Grand Prix, when conditions were even better.
Therefore, as anticipated, we can expect faster laps times this year.
But note also that splitting the two Lotus drivers on the timesheets is Nico Rosberg. However, where their times were set on the new super-soft rubber, his best was run on the medium rubber, in the same conditions as Grosjean’s, and he was only 0.254s off the Frenchman's best.
Then there is the whole issue of reliability, where once again Mercedes, both as a team and engine manufacturer, comes out on top.
Indeed, the lap times do not tell the whole story, far from it. However, taken in context along with the number of laps completed and the tyre compounds used, a picture does begin to emerge.
Engine Manufacturer Test Mileage - Barcelona
| Engine Manufacturer | Miles | Kms |
| Mercedes | 4390.9 | 7066.29 |
| Renault | 2397.9 | 3858.99 |
| Ferrari | 1917.8 | 3086.26 |
| Honda | 358.7 | 577.22 |
Team Test Mileage - Barcelona
| Team | Miles | Kms |
| Mercedes | 1290.1 | 2076.13 |
| Red Bull | 1209.1 | 1945.79 |
| Toro Rosso | 1188.8 | 1913.20 |
| Williams | 1177.3 | 1894.58 |
| Lotus | 1044.2 | 1680.45 |
| Ferrari | 997.9 | 1605.97 |
| Sauber | 919.8 | 1480.29 |
| Force India | 879.3 | 1415.12 |
| McLaren | 358.7 | 577.22 |
Driver Test Mileage - Barcelona
| Driver | Team | Miles | Kms |
| Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 645.0 | 1038.06 |
| Kvyat | Red Bull | 624.8 | 1005.48 |
| Ricciardo | Red Bull | 584.3 | 940.31 |
| Hamilton | Mercedes | 581.4 | 935.65 |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | 569.8 | 917.03 |
| Sainz | Toro Rosso | 543.8 | 875.14 |
| Vettel | Ferrari | 523.6 | 842.55 |
| Bottas | Williams | 514.9 | 828.59 |
| Maldonado | Lotus | 500.4 | 805.31 |
| Ericsson | Sauber | 480.2 | 772.73 |
| Raikkonen | Ferrari | 474.4 | 763.42 |
| Wehrlein | Mercedes/Force India | 465.7 | 749.45 |
| Perez | Force India | 448.3 | 721.52 |
| Nasr | Sauber | 439.7 | 707.56 |
| Massa | Williams | 413.6 | 665.66 |
| Grosjean | Lotus | 321.1 | 516.70 |
| Wolff | Williams | 248.8 | 400.33 |
| Alonso | McLaren | 228.5 | 367.74 |
| Palmer | Lotus | 222.7 | 358.43 |
| Button | McLaren | 130.2 | 209.47 |
| Hulkenberg | Force India | 104.1 | 167.58 |
Engine Manufacturer Test Mileage - To Date
| Engine Manufacturer | Miles | Kms |
| Mercedes | 7098.3 | 11423.29 |
| Ferrari | 3929.1 | 6323.10 |
| Renault | 3825.9 | 6157.02 |
| Honda | 576.1 | 927.12 |
Team Test Mileage - To Date
| Team | Miles | Kms |
| Mercedes | 2709.8 | 4360.88 |
| Toro Rosso | 2160 | 3476.09 |
| Sauber | 1970.8 | 3171.61 |
| Ferrari | 1958.1 | 3151.17 |
| Williams | 1942.2 | 3125.58 |
| Red Bull | 1665.8 | 2680.77 |
| Lotus | 1567 | 2521.77 |
| Force India | 879.3 | 1415.06 |
| McLaren | 576.1 | 927.12 |
Driver Test Mileage - To Date
| Driver | Team | Miles | Kms |
| Rosberg | Mercedes | 1417.2 | 2280.70 |
| Hamilton | Mercedes | 1153.7 | 1856.65 |
| Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1112.7 | 1790.67 |
| Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1047.3 | 1685.42 |
| Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1024.7 | 1649.05 |
| Ericsson | Sauber | 989.2 | 1591.92 |
| Nasr | Sauber | 981.7 | 1579.85 |
| Vettel | Ferrari | 933.6 | 1502.44 |
| Bottas | Williams | 883.6 | 1421.98 |
| Maldonado | Lotus | 877.3 | 1411.84 |
| Kvyat | Red Bull | 850.4 | 1368.55 |
| Ricciardo | Red Bull | 815.4 | 1312.22 |
| Massa | Williams | 809.8 | 1303.21 |
| Grosjean | Lotus | 466.9 | 751.38 |
| Wehrlein | Mercedes/Force India | 465.7 | 749.45 |
| Perez | Force India | 448.3 | 721.45 |
| Alonso | McLaren | 333.1 | 536.06 |
| Wolff | Williams | 248.8 | 400.39 |
| Button | McLaren | 243 | 391.06 |
| Palmer | Lotus | 222.7 | 358.39 |
| Hulkenberg | Force India | 104.1 | 167.53 |
Best Times Barcelona
| Date | Driver | Team | Tyres | Time | Gap |
| 22-Feb | Grosjean | Lotus | SS | 1:24.067 | 123.868 mph |
| 22-Feb | Rosberg | Mercedes | M | 1:24.321 | 0.254 |
| 21-Feb | Maldonado | Lotus | SS | 1:24.348 | 0.281 |
| 20-Feb | Ricciardo | Red Bull | S | 1:24.574 | 0.507 |
| 20-Feb | Raikkonen | Ferrari | S | 1:24.584 | 0.517 |
| 20-Feb | Massa | Williams | S | 1:24.672 | 0.605 |
| 20-Feb | Perez | Force India | SS | 1:24.702 | 0.635 |
| 21-Feb | Verstappen | Toro Rosso | SS | 1:24.739 | 0.672 |
| 20-Feb | Hamilton | Mercedes | M | 1:24.923 | 0.856 |
| 22-Feb | Kvyat | Red Bull | S | 1:24.941 | 0.874 |
| 22-Feb | Nasr | Sauber | SS | 1:24.956 | 0.889 |
| 22-Feb | Bottas | Williams | S | 1:25.345 | 1.278 |
| 22-Feb | Sainz | Toro Rosso | SS | 1:25.604 | 1.537 |
| 20-Feb | Alonso | McLaren | S | 1:25.961 | 1.894 |
| 20-Feb | Palmer | Lotus | S | 1:26.280 | 2.213 |
| 22-Feb | Vettel | Ferrari | S | 1:26.312 | 2.245 |
| 21-Feb | Ericsson | Sauber | S | 1:26.340 | 2.273 |
| 22-Feb | Hulkenberg | Force India | S | 1:26.591 | 2.524 |
| 21-Feb | Wehrlein | Force India | M | 1:27.333 | 3.266 |
| 19-Feb | Button | McLaren | M | 1:28.182 | 4.115 |
| 19-Feb | Wehrlein | Mercedes | H | 1:28.489 | 4.422 |
| 19-Feb | Wolff | Williams | M | 1:28.906 | 4.839 |
Best Times Jerez
| Date | Driver | Team | Tyres | Time | Gap |
| 04-Feb | Raikkonen | Ferrari | S | 1:20.841 | 122.526 mph |
| 02-Feb | Vettel | Ferrari | M | 1:20.984 | 0.143 |
| 03-Feb | Nasr | Sauber | S | 1:21.545 | 0.704 |
| 03-Feb | Rosberg | Mercedes | M | 1:21.982 | 1.141 |
| 04-Feb | Ericsson | Sauber | S | 1:22.019 | 1.178 |
| 04-Feb | Hamilton | Mercedes | M | 1:22.172 | 1.331 |
| 03-Feb | Massa | Williams | S | 1:22.276 | 1.435 |
| 02-Feb | Bottas | Williams | S | 1:22.319 | 1.478 |
| 04-Feb | Verstappen | Toro Rosso | S | 1:22.553 | 1.712 |
| 03-Feb | Maldonado | Lotus | S | 1:22.713 | 1.872 |
| 03-Feb | Sainz | Toro Rosso | S | 1:23.187 | 2.346 |
| 01-Feb | Ricciardo | Red Bull | M | 1:23.338 | 2.497 |
| 04-Feb | Grosjean | Lotus | M | 1:23.802 | 2.961 |
| 04-Feb | Kvyat | Red Bull | M | 1:23.975 | 3.134 |
| 04-Feb | Button | McLaren | M | 1:27.660 | 6.819 |
| 03-Feb | Alonso | McLaren | INT | 1:35.553 | 14.712 |