The 2022 Formula One season is underway, as the first of two pre-season tests started today in Barcelona. As the test isn’t televised, due to it being classified as a “shakedown”, MotorLAT has produced a handy guide to keep you up-to-date with everything that happened on each day of running, in daily, detailed summaries of the on-track action.

MORNING SESSION

In the first official running of the new cars, the team’s line ups were as follows:

MORNING LINE-UP

Mercedes: George Russell #63                                     

Red Bull: Max Verstappen #1

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc #16                                 

McLaren: Lando Norris #4

Alpine: Fernando Alonso #14                                   

AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda #22

Aston Martin: Sebastian Vettel #5                           

Williams: Nicholas Latifi #6

Alfa Romeo: Robert Kubica #88                                 

Haas: Nikita Mazepin #9

Ferrari hit the ground running on the morning session, with Charles Leclerc doing the work for the Scuderia, completing 80 laps in his brand-new F1-75 machine, setting a best lap of 1:20.165, beating McLaren’s Lando Norris by just over 0.3s.

Charles Leclerc finishes on top for the morning session of running with a time of 1:20.165! ⏱#F1 @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/w10kRpdGHY

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 23, 2022

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the session was when Red Bull rolled out its RB18 onto the circuit, sporting some radically aggressive sidepods, with a big undercut in order to generate more downforce from the floor. As usual, teams ran their standard checks with aero rakes and flow visualisation paint, to make sure their machines on track correlates to simulations back at base.

Red Bull RB18/Hasan Bratic - MotorLAT

The 4-hour session ran smoothly, with no red flags needing to be deployed, proving the ultra-high level of reliability the teams have achieved already, with 531 laps being completed across the entire field. Notably, Alfa Romeo and Haas endured a difficult session. The Swiss squad was hit by an issue early on in the session, preventing Robert Kubica from doing any significant running in the new C42, with only nine laps on the board. Haas had a cooling issue and had to keep Mazepin in the garage for a large chunk of the session, but he did go back out for some laps before the lunch break.

A few drivers visited the gravel traps around the circuit, but nothing serious or session ending.

RESULTS - MORNING

P1 – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1:20.165, 80 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P2 – Lando Norris, McLaren – 1:20.474, 50 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P3 – George Russell, Mercedes – 1:20.784, 77 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P4 – Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin – 1:21.276, 52 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P5 – Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri – 1:21.638, 43 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P6 – Max Verstappen, Red Bull – 1:22.246, 80 laps completed (C2 tyres)

P7 – Fernando Alonso, Alpine – 1:23.317, 54 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P8 – Nicholas Latifi, Williams – 1:23.379, 66 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P9 – Nikita Mazepin, Haas – 1:24.505, 20 laps completed (C2 tyres)

P10 – Robert Kubica, Alfa Romeo – 1:25.909, 9 laps completed (C3 tyres)

 AFTERNOON SESSION 

For the second part of the day, many teams opted to swap drivers, while others have kept the same line up as in the morning.

At Mercedes, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton got behind the wheel of his W13. Carlos Sainz took over the Ferrari F1-75 driven by team-mate Charles Leclerc earlier in the day, while Valtteri Bottas got to drive the Alfa Romeo C42 – but his running was cut short by persisting car issues, which kept the Finn in the garage for more than three quarters of the session.

At Williams, Alex Albon was in place of Nicholas Latifi. Mick Schumacher took over the Haas VF-22, and Lance Stroll got his taste of Aston Martin’s AMR22 after Vettel ran in the morning.

No changes at Alpine, Red Bull, McLaren and AlphaTauri, as their drivers continued their work from the morning into the afternoon.

AFTERNOON LINE-UP

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton #44         

Red Bull: Max Verstappen #1

Ferrari: Carlos Sainz #55                   

McLaren: Lando Norris #4

Alpine: Fernando Alonso #14                                     

AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda #22

Aston Martin: Lance Stroll #18         

Williams: Alex Albon #23

Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas #77       

Haas: Mick Schumacher #47

The second part of the day ran just as smoothly as the first one in terms of stoppages and red flags, with only a minor fault on Lando Norris’s McLaren closing the pit lane momentarily, but the young Briton was able to get back out swiftly after.

Carlos Sainz continued Ferrari’s good day at the office, claiming P2 just behind his team-mate Leclerc at the start of the final hour of running. Both of them would later be demoted to P2 and P3, courtesy of a very fast time from Norris in the McLaren, the first driver to dip below the 1min20s barrier, and finished the session on top, with his time of 1:19.568, set on the C4 compound tyres.

101 laps complete. Day one DONE! ✅ #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/P8IWLSLk6r

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 23, 2022

All teams completed a very respectable amount of laps, with eight of the 10 teams getting more than 100 laps on the board throughout the day, struggling outfits of Alfa Romeo and Haas below the century of laps.

Haas and Alfa Romeo continued to struggle for mileage. The American team had to fix a broken floor on Schumacher’s car which kept the German in the garage for a long time - he would eventually come back out and set the 12th fastest lap of the day, just under 15 minutes from the session end.

Alfa Romeo’s problems seemed to be more serious, this time with their star driver behind the wheel. Bottas went out at the start of the session and completed 10 laps straightaway, but he would then be stuck in the garage for almost three hours before seeing the race track again – more trouble for the Swiss squad, which they’ll be hoping to have sorted out before the action starts again tomorrow.

Notable changes at Red Bull, as they opened up their cooling inlets more in the afternoon, in response to the rising air and track temperature.

As with the first session of the day, a couple of drivers went off-track monetarily, but gathered their machines back up and no stoppage was required.

RESULTS – COMBINED

P1 – Lando Norris, McLaren – 1:19.568, 101 laps completed (C4 tyres)

P2 – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1:20.165, 80 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P3 – Carlos Sainz, Ferrari – 1:20.416, 73 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P4 – George Russell, Mercedes – 1:20.784, 77 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P5 – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 1:20.929, 50 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P6 – Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin – 1:21.276, 52 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P7 – Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri – 1:21.638, 121 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P8 – Fernando Alonso, Alpine – 1:21.746, 127 laps completed (C2 tyres)

P9 – Max Verstappen, Red Bull – 1:22.246, 147 laps completed (C2 tyres)

P10 – Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo – 1:22.572, 23 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P11 – Alexander Albon, Williams – 1:22.760, 66 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P12 – Mick Schumacher, Haas – 1:22.962, 23 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P13 – Lance Stroll, Aston Martin – 1:23.327, 67 laps completed (C2 tyres)

P14 – Nicholas Latifi, Williams – 1:23.379, 66 laps completed (C3 tyres)

P15 – Nikita Mazepin, Haas – 1:24.505, 20 laps completed (C2 tyres)

P16 – Robert Kubica, Alfa Romeo – 1:25.909, 9 laps completed (C3 tyres)

TOTAL LAPS BY TEAM

Mercedes: 127 laps                                        
Red Bull: 147 laps

Ferrari: 153 laps                                             
McLaren: 103 laps

Alpine: 127 laps                                             
AlphaTauri: 121 laps

Aston Martin: 119 laps                                   
Williams: 132 laps

Alfa Romeo: 32 laps                                         
Haas: 43 laps

Formula 1 returns tomorrow for the second day of pre-season sessions. MotorLAT will continue with in-depth coverage of the tests throughout all three days, so keep your eyes peeled!

Pre-season Day 1 = DONE 🏁#F1 pic.twitter.com/YN3vPMVmAp

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 23, 2022