MONTMELO, Spain -- Charles Leclerc kept Ferrari at the top of the timesheets in pre-season testing after a solid start to his first day with the team. His fastest time was a 1:18.247, roughly a tenth of a second slower than Sebastian Vettel's best effort on the opening day. Both drivers were using the same compound tyre -- the C3 -- but Leclerc's lap was set on a slightly longer run, suggesting it could have been on heavier fuel. Once again, Mercedes was off the pace of Ferrari but believed to be running heavier fuel loads. Five kilograms of fuel costs 0.2s per lap, so even a difference of a quarter of a tank can account for a difference of over a second in lap time. After setting fastest times in the 1:20s on Monday using the C2 compound, both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dipped into the in the 1:19s on Tuesday using the slightly softer C3s. Comparisons between the top two teams remain difficult without anything resembling a qualifying or race simulation from either and it should be noted that Mercedes rarely shows its hand in the opening week of testing. In terms of mileage, Mercedes completed 163 laps between its two drivers while Ferrari completed 157 -- both very healthy totals for a day of testing. Eric Alonso/MB Media/Getty Images Red Bull had another low-key day, with Pierre Gasly seventh fastest overall. He completed 92 laps before losing the rear of his car in Turn 13 and rear-ending the barrier. Damage to the rear wing from the collision meant his day was brought to a premature end as Red Bull's mechanics turned their focus to repairing the car ahead of Max Verstappen's return to the cockpit on Wednesday. "Out of Turn 10 I went on the power and shifted to fifth and lost it," Gasly said. "It was quite annoying to lose the hour of testing today. I think the first feeling is good. We tested a lot of positive things, we still have a lot of work to do over the next few days but the first run was great. Exciting." Renault also lost track time after the upper element of the rear wing broke off its car while Daniel Ricciardo was nudging 200mph on the pit straight. The failure happened while the DRS was open, hinting a potential problem with the design of the overtaking aid at high speed. "When it was on, it was OK! But yeah, when obviously it broke, it's like going into the corner with the DRS open," Ricciardo said. "As soon as I braked, I lost the car and spun. We avoided the wall, but just coming back to fix the rear wing and all of that, it takes some time, and parts as well at testing, you don't have a whole lot of parts." It brought an end to Ricciardo's morning but the team managed to get Nico Hulkenberg back on track in the afternoon to complete 95 laps and set the eighth fastest time. As was the case on Monday, McLaren finished the day in second place, with Lando Norris setting a 1:18.553 towards the end of the day on the C4 tyre, which is a step softer than the C3 used by Leclerc. Norris' time was 0.005s quicker than teammate Carlos Sainz managed on the same compound on Monday. Haas finished third fastest for the second day in a row, with Kevin Magnussen clocking a 1:19.206 before an issue with the fit of his seat forced him out. The team's reserve Pietro Fittipaldi took over for 13 laps at the end of the day, managing a 1:21.849 during his brief stint behind the wheel. Toro Rosso's new signing Alexander Albon finished fourth on his first full test day in a Formula One car. Albon had previously completed very limited mileage in a filming day ahead of testing, but Tuesday was his first time in an official F1 session of any kind. His day got off to a bad start when he spun into the gravel on the exit of Turn 4 on his outlap, but the team put the mistake down to a setting change on the steering rather than a lapse from the driver. Sauber completed another solid day with Antonio Giovinazzi completing 101 laps, while Racing Point started to recover from Monday's slow start with a total of 79 laps with Lance Stroll at the wheel. Williams' new car is due to arrive at the circuit overnight after work on the chassis was finally completed at the team's factory today. The delay in the build has cost Williams two full days of testing (25 percent of the total pre-season track time available) and the car is not expected to hit the track until tomorrow afternoon. Day two times 1. Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:18.247, 157 laps (C3) 2. Norris, McLaren, 1:18.553, 104 laps (C4) 3. Magnusen, Haas, 1:19.206, 59 laps (C3) 4. Albon, Toro Rosso, 1:19.301, 132 laps (C4) 5. Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, 1:19.312, 101 laps (C4) 6. Bottas, Mercedes, 1:19.535 89 laps (C3) 7. Gasly, Red Bull, 1:19.814, 92 laps (C3) 8. Hulkenberg, Renault, 1:19.837, 95 laps (C3) 9. Ricciardo, Renault, 1:19.886, 28 laps (C3) 10. Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:19.928, 74 laps (C3) 11. Stroll, Racing Point, 1:20.433, 79 laps (C3) 11. Fittipaldi, Haas, 1:21.849, 13 laps (C3) (Tyre compounds in brackets -- hardest to softest C1-C5)<doc-sep>Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets as Ferrari made an impressively fast start to F1 2019 on the first day of pre-season testing. "I couldn't have hoped for a better first day," said the German. "Unbelievable." But while anticipation is building for another blockbuster battle between Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull this season, it was McLaren who emerged as the Scuderia's closest challengers on Day One. World champion Lewis Hamilton was only ninth quickest. Mercedes did, however, complete a combined 150 laps after Valtteri Bottas ran in the morning session. Mercedes: Hamilton in best ever shape Williams set to miss Day Two of test F1 Testing: Live on Sky Sports F1 Sebastian Vettel was quick. Very quick. Ferrari and Vettel's flying start trumps McLaren Vettel flew out of the blocks to set his fastest time, a 1:18.161 just before lunch, a benchmark that didn't look likely to be challenged before Carlos Sainz's eyebrow-raising late surge in the MCL34. In the closing stages of a fascinating first day, Sainz lapped within half a second of Vettel - an encouraging feat for a McLaren team so desperate for improvement this year. But this was still Ferrari's day. Vettel also posted the most laps -170 - while his fastest time was two seconds quicker than anything we saw at this stage last year. Two Ferrari-powered teams, meanwhile, in Haas and Alfa Romeo occupied third and fifth through Romain Grosjean and the experienced Kimi Raikkonen respectively. Red Bull enjoyed a solid first day with Honda engines, with Max Verstappen fourth and over a second off Vettel's eye-catching pace but also racking up over a century of laps. "So far so good," said the Dutchman. "Everything was working quite well, we did quite a lot of laps. I'm happy about that but it's still the first day. "We're happy and we'll keep improving. Like everyone else we still need to learn the car, still need to learn the engine." The biggest enigma were Mercedes as the world champions opted for longer runs, failing to trouble the leading times all day. Bottas and Hamilton split the running for the Silver Arrows, only slotting into eighth and ninth with a fastest time of 1:20.127. Renault also appeared to be holding something back, with Nico Hulkenberg and new recruit Daniel Ricciardo surprisingly propping up the timesheets. Williams, meanwhile, didn't get out on track at all and have also ruled themselves out of Day Two - meaning the Grove team are set to miss a quarter of F1 Testing. F1 Testing: Day One, Test One Timesheet Driver Team Total laps Fastest tyre Fastest lap Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 169 C3 1:18.161 Carlos Sainz McLaren 119 C4 1:18..558 Romain Grosjean Haas 65 C3 1:19.159 Max Verstappen Red Bull 128 C3 1:19.426 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 114 C3 1:19.462 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 77 C4 1:19.464 Sergio Perez Racing Point 30 C3 1:19.944 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 69 C2 1:20.127 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 81 C2 1:20.135 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 65 C2 1:20.980 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 44 C2 1:20.983 Compound 2=2019 Medium tyre Compound 3=2019 Soft tyre Compound 4=2019 Hypersoft tyre Day One at Barcelona in quotes Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari "I couldn't have hoped for a better first day. Unbelievable. If we can maintain the level of enjoyment and fun that I found on the track today and saw in people's faces the last couple of months then I'm positive and hopeful for the future." Toto Wolff, Mercedes "I've seen [Vettel's] time and the time was very quick." Christian Horner, Red Bull "It's a very good starting point [for the Honda engine]. The installation looks great, it's beautifully integrated into the car and we're hopefully going to see exciting progress through the year." Zak Brown, McLaren "It's been a good first day. We're coming off a very difficult few years and obviously last year's first day of testing didn't go to plan and today has." Franz Tost, Toro Rosso "[Honda] have made big progress over the winter - from the reliability side as well as the performance side," Day One at Barcelona in pictures McLaren were quick even before the green light - Carlos Sainz was first onto the track ahead of Valtteri Bottas Lewis Hamilton had the morning off for Mercedes, but completed 81 laps in the afternoon alone. Romain Grosjean ground to a halt at the final chicane. He only completed 65 laps. Kimi Raikkonen caused two red flags, one early on after spinning into the gravel. Daniil Kvyat enjoyed an encouraging return to F1, within a tenth of the Red Bull. Get the dedicated Sky Sports F1 channel - the exclusive home of all live F1 next season - for £18 a month in HD with no contract. Get Sky Sports F1.<doc-sep>Barcelona F1 Test Day 2: Driver & Team Quotes Teams and drivers report from the second day of Formula 1 preseason testing at Circuit de Catalunya, in Barcelona, Spain. Ferrari Team Report: “Charles Leclerc make his official debut at the wheel of the SF90, following on from the two laps he completed during the filming day on Sunday. The Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow driver completed a total of 157 laps; 73 in the morning, a further 84 in the afternoon.” Charles Leclerc: “I am very happy with the way today went. Despite some red flag interruptions, we were able to get through all our programme and to do 157 laps, which has produced a lot of useful data. In terms of feeling, I quickly felt comfortable with the SF90 and I have to say I really enjoyed myself. Emotion? There’s always going to be some when you get into a Ferrari, but today I put that to one side because I had a job to do for the team. Let’s hope we keep going like this over the next few days, because it’s important to make the most of the few on-track testing opportunities we have.” McLaren Lando Norris: “Being my first time in the car, I’m pretty happy with how today has gone. The team has done an awesome job getting everything together, and over the last two days we’ve done a lot of mileage, which is the best thing we can hope for. The times aren’t important to us, it’s about getting through the plans we have to do, especially in this part of the season when there are a lot of new things on the car to test. I’ve not done much long running in the past or pit-stops, so getting up to speed and talking to my engineers are the most important things for me to get on top of over the next two weeks. Laps, mileage and reliability are the main objectives, as well as getting to know the car. There are still a lot of things we need to continue to work on and improve over the next few days. It’s definitely a work in progress.” Gil de Ferrarn, Sporting Director: “Today was another decent day under our belts, where we racked up some good mileage and continued to explore the MCL34, as well as the 2019 tyres. Given the weather, track conditions are not always representative, nevertheless, we’re still able to do some useful learning. On his first day in the car, Lando equipped himself well and quickly got into a rhythm. It’s good for the team to now have feedback from both drivers, as well as the data from two full days of testing, to help us further our understanding not only of the car and Renault power unit, but also the individual requirements of the drivers. We’re all heads down and fully focussed, and hopefully tomorrow will be another valuable day.” Mercedes Lewis Hamilton: “It’s been a good day overall. It was quite cold in the morning, so switching the tyres on was a little bit tricky, but it seemed like a few people had similar issues. We were focusing on working through our run plan and we got through everything we wanted. It’s good that we’re getting in a lot of mileage and we will try to increase that over the next days as we continue to discover the characteristics of this car. That’s the exciting part about it – learning something new and being faced with different challenges. Everyone is working so diligently, I’m really happy to be here with everyone for the seventh year in a row and I’m excited for this journey that we’re embarking on.” Valtteri Bottas: “We did a lot of laps today and again managed to complete our run plan. We’re learning a lot about the W10 with each run and we’re building a better understanding of the set-up. The car was better balanced than yesterday, but there’s still a bit of room for improvement. As you can tell from the lap times, we’ve been focusing on long-run work. I’ll be in the car tomorrow morning, so it will be a busy evening for me, taking in all the learnings from today. It’s been a pretty normal test so far; fortunately, the car has been very reliable, so that’s good news.” James Allison: “We’re just two days in, but already a quarter of the way through the precious days of winter testing. Today was another very useful day for us, accumulating a lot of miles, proving out a lot of components and testing with both drivers several set-up avenues. The car was trouble-free all day and we added to the knowledge about the tyres and the car that we started to acquire yesterday. This permits us to build a foundation for the second test where all the interesting running will take place.” Red Bull Pierre Gasly: “The day was positive and I was really happy to be back behind the wheel after the winter break. The first feeling is good. It was important for me to get comfortable in the car and we managed to do more than 90 laps. This afternoon, I was pushing and out of Turn 10 I went on the power, upshifted to fifth and lost the rear of the car. It was quite annoying to lose the last hour of testing. Apart from that, we tested a lot of things and got a lot of good information, there is a good potential. Of course we still have a lot of work to do over the next six days of testing but for me, aside from the last bit, the first day was great.” Guillaume Rocquelin, Head of Race Engineering: “It happens. Prior to Pierre’s spin we had been doing a lot of short runs to gather data and there is quite a reset after that. Pierre was then on a quick lap and as you’d expect he was finding the limit. He’s understandably not happy but it’s not a disaster. We have a bit of work on this evening but we’ll be ready for tomorrow. Aside from that, Pierre had a good first day in the car. The target this morning was to get more miles on the car, to give him a good feel for it and to cycle through tyres. There were some background tests happening but it was mainly about Pierre getting comfortable. In the afternoon, we switched to data gathering over short runs and that was the focus up until late afternoon and the spin.” Toro Rosso Alexander Albon: “Today was up there with one of my all-time great experiences! It’s been a really good day. At the start I was thinking to myself ‘don’t spin it this morning’, and that’s exactly what I did! It was really tricky out there because the track was so cold that you couldn’t drive slowly – as soon as you drive too slow your tyres get cold, it becomes unpredictable and it’s like driving on ice. Once I got into my rhythm it was a smooth day and we had no issues, apart from a couple of spins later on, but I was just exploring the limits to see what the car was capable of. I did a few laps on Wednesday for our Filming Day, so today wasn’t a totally new experience to drive an F1 car, and I’ve also been in the simulator many times, so I had a general idea of what the car could do. However, the high speed of the car is definitely new to me and it was a bit of a positive shock – I’m enjoying it a lot! I’m still smiling from when I got out of the car and I’ll continue smiling throughout tonight until tomorrow! Jody Egginton, Deputy Technical Director: “Today was the first proper day in the car for Alex and I think he would agree it has been both productive and enjoyable for him.<doc-sep>
Ferrari continued their fast start to F1 2019 at pre-season testing as Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets on Day Two. Leclerc, preparing for his first season as a Ferrari race driver, lapped within a tenth of a second of team-mate Sebastian Vettel's quickest effort from Monday, clocking a time of 1:18.247. It was once again McLaren who pushed the Scuderia closest in Barcelona as British rookie Lando Norris finished just three tenths behind Leclerc with a late surge on the softer tyres late for testing's early surprise package. The fastest laps of F1 testing Vettel: Leclerc a 'full rival' Mercedes, meanwhile, continue to be conspicuous by their absence at the top of the testing timesheets. The world champions spent another day concentrating on longer runs in Barcelona, with Valtteri Bottas sixth and Lewis Hamilton, almost two seconds off Leclerc, back in 10th. Red Bull, who are publicly enthused by their new Honda partnership, didn't fare much better in terms of one-lap pace - and their day ended in spectacular fashion when Pierre Gasly span and crashed his RB15 into the trackside barriers. "I was pushing and out of Turn 10 I went on the power, upshifted to fifth and lost the rear of the car," said Gasly. "It was quite annoying to lose the last hour of testing. Apart from that, we tested a lot of things and got a lot of good information, there is a good potential." 1:02 Red Bull's Pierre Gasly spun and hit the wall during testing in Barcelona leading to the session being red flagged Red Bull's Pierre Gasly spun and hit the wall during testing in Barcelona leading to the session being red flagged Ferrari go fast, and long - and where has McLaren's pace come from? It was another impressive day for Ferrari, spearheaded by new recruit Leclerc. The youngster continually got faster across a series of medium-length stints during Tuesday's morning session, with his best effort coming on the yellow-striped 'compound three' - the same as Vettel. "The car looks balanced, it looks good to drive," said Sky F1's Karun Chandhok. "Dare I say it, it doesn't look to have a weakness." He was a second clear of the field before Norris' late burst and also completed 157 laps, more than any other driver, though Mercedes topped the team charts with 163. 1:16 Not the start to testing that Toro Rosso youngster Alexander Albon wanted - he span into the gravel on his opening lap in Barcelona Not the start to testing that Toro Rosso youngster Alexander Albon wanted - he span into the gravel on his opening lap in Barcelona F1's two biggest teams - Mercedes and Ferrari - appear to be opting for different strategies to open the season. Bottas, replacing Hamilton in the afternoon, set the Silver Arrows' best time of the test so far, a cautious 1:19.616 In contrast to Mercedes, there is a belief that McLaren have been posting their late efforts with lighter fuel loads. Norris followed Sainz's lead from a day before by leaping up to second place in the final minutes. "We know there's a long road ahead," said team director Gil de Ferran. 1:08 Daniel Ricciardo took a spin on the second day of the first test in Barcelona and appeared to lose his rear wing after an issue with his DRS Daniel Ricciardo took a spin on the second day of the first test in Barcelona and appeared to lose his rear wing after an issue with his DRS Ferrari power also shone on Day Two with Kevin Magnussen third for Haas and Antonio Giovinazzi fifth in the new Alfa Romeo. But there was also a boost for Honda engines. Gasly completed 92 laps before his shunt, while Alexander Albon comfortably passed a century and finished the day in fourth place. That was despite blotting his copybook within four corners of his first full F1 test by spinning into the gravel. "It's quite funny because I've had that experience before of spinning on the out lap and I was like 'ok, it's not the first time you've done this, so don't think about it'," joked Albon. "It reassured me that Kimi [Raikkonen] did it, but in that morning session after I span it was a bit like a dog with the tail between its legs! But it was ok in the end."