F1 testing | Robert Kubica sets the fastest lap of Day 4
For the second time in four days of testing, Alfa Romeo leads the time board. Robert Kubica sets a 1:16.942 on the red painted rubber. Issues for many troughout the two sessions.
With a low fuel run on a C5 tyre compound in the morning, Robert Kubica manages to put his Alfa Romeo C39 on top of the Day-4 standings. The Pole set a time of 1:16.942 that was enough to keep the closest of the runner-ups four tenths away.
Second place indeed belongs to Max Verstappen (1:17.347), showing a great long-run pace for Red Bull, after power unit issues in the morning compromised Alex Albon’s work.
Third place of the day for Racing Point with Sergio Perez. A perfectly balanced car was enough to be just 0.486 seconds away from the top and, at the same time, have one of the most convincing long-runs among the field.
Daniil Kvyat takes advantage of the very last lap of the afternoon session to put himself up to fourth (+0.514) on the C3 tyres (same as the Verstappen and Perez). A great day overall for Alpha Tauri, beside some minor issues in the morning, that secures P5 as well with Pierre Gasly (+0.598 seconds on C5 rubber).
First on the board on the C2 tyres is Alex Albon that finishes the day six tenths away from Kubica and just 12 thousands in front of Lewis Hamilton on the same compound. P8 for Lance Stroll (+0.845) keeps the Mercedes apart, with Valtteri Bottas setting a 1:18.100 in the afternoon to reach ninth place. The top 10 is filled by the first of the Ferrari cars, with Sebastian Vettel accumulating a gap of 1.171 seconds from the leader. A spin in the moring for the German caused a red flag situation to clean the track from the gravel at turn 7.
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Disappointing day for Renault, having both of the drivers out of the top 10: Daniel Ricciardo (+1.272) is eleventh while Esteban Ocon occupies last place (+4.600) having tested long-runs only.
Outside of the ‘first page’ of the board is also McLaren: Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris are respectively P12 and P17. Charles Leclerc ends up thirteenth, keeping behind the two Williams of Latifi and Russell. The Canadian rookie’s car shut down in the closing stages of the morning session, forcing his work to an early end.
Romain Grosjean is sixteenth and Kimi Raikkonen second last. All the times are provided at the end of the article.
The highest number of laps done was recorded by Romain Grosjean with 107. Still, very noticeable was the hard work done by Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc. Having ran for just half a day each, the three of them crossed the line respectively 89, 90 and 80 times.
In the closing stages of the session, a red flag situation was caused by Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat coming to a sudden stop at the same moment. The reasons are still not clear, but the Russian driver may have just ran out of fuel to test the capacity of the tank. Stranger incident for Verstappen, who was suddenly sent spinning in the braking-zone of turn 10 by a possible lock of the rear axle.
