Mercedes drivers complete Day 4 runs at Barcelona testing

Ryan Joseph Ramos February 25, 2016

Both Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 drivers were active on track at the last day of the first round of testing in Barcelona, with Lewis Hamilton completing 99 laps in the morning and Nico Rosberg taking his turn for 86 laps after the lunch break as the team tries to learn more about the F1 W07 Hybrid.

The focus is on reliability, with the team really running the 2016 car for a large number of laps in each of the four days of testing. To be more specific, each day the total laps ran in the F1 W07 ranged from 150 to over 190. The fourth day also saw Mercedes practicing its race starts and pit stops.

In contrast, there are teams like McLaren who can barely complete runs. Fernando Alonso took the driver’s seat in day 4 and managed a mere 3 laps; the team managed to run only 257 total laps in the four days of preseason testing so far.

Hamilton and Rosberg were all praises for how smooth the car operated, acknowledging all the work Brackley has put in to making this season’s entry.

“It feels strong, it feels solid, it just keeps going and going,” said defending champ Hamilton. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” He added that with all the laps and just how well the car drove, it was probably the Mercedes team’s best test so far.

Rosberg said that not only does reliability seem to be great but the car also felt quick. While this is only the first round of preseason tests, Rosberg and Hamilton could only manage 7th and 8th fastest, respectively, in terms of best lap times. The Ferrari cars are looking like the quickest ones off the gate, with Raikkonen going over 2.5 seconds faster than Rosberg’s best time (1:23.477 versus 1:26.187).

The two drivers added that they’re looking for small problems that can be fixed along with small incremental adjustments that will help the car’s performance go a step forward.

There will be another round of preseason tests in Barcelona in the coming week, so we’re looking to see Mercedes put those incremental adjustments into play and maybe come closer to Ferrari in terms of pace. So far, though, the Silver Arrows are looking in good shape to defend their titles.