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McLaren was fastest by half a second on day one of 2022 Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona, thanks to late runs on softer tyres by Lando Norris.
Norris had earlier lost a little running when his Mercedes engine went into a ‘protection mode’ used for testing as he tried to leave the pitlane, meaning the car had to be pulled back to the garage for a reset.
He was rapidly back out, though, and then became one of the first drivers to go onto the softer C4 compound.
An initial 1m19.951s back him fastest, before another run 12 minutes from the end pulled him significantly further clear with a 1m19.568s.
Until then, it had been a Ferrari 1-2 – with Charles Leclerc’s morning time of 1m20.165s ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz’s 1m20.416s afternoon effort. They both used the mid-range C3 tyres for their best runs.
The Mercedes of morning runner George Russell and afternoon man Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth, though Hamilton aborted a lap that looked more promising on the sector times.
While Red Bull kept a low profile in outright pace terms, with Max Verstappen down in ninth and 2.7s off Norris’s pace, it topped the mileage chart as he covered 147 laps.
Alpine was also able to do plenty of running, Fernando Alonso eighth fastest behind Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin and Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri but second only to Verstappen in the mileage stakes on 120 laps.
Williams covered 132 laps split between Alex Albon in the afternoon and Nicholas Latifi in the opening session.
Haas and Alfa Romeo had the most conspicuously troubled days.
A cooling leak that required the floor to be removed and then sensor problems meant Nikita Mazepin only did 20 laps in the morning and then floor damage limited Mick Schumacher to 23 laps in the afternoon.
Alfa Romeo said a breakage on a “small part” led to Robert Kubica only doing nine laps during his morning and then what Valtteri Bottas would only describe as “costly” problems limited his afternoon session to 23 laps with the team reporting another part breakage in the afternoon.
Barcelona test day one times
1. Norris (McLaren) 1m19.568s, C4, 103 laps
2. Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m20.165s, C3, 80 laps
3. Sainz (Ferrari) 1m20.416s, C3, 73 laps
4. Russell (Mercedes) 1m20.784s, C3, 77 laps
5. Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m20.929s, C3, 50 laps
6. Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m21.276s, C3, 52 laps
7. Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m21.638s, C3, 120 laps
8. Alonso (Alpine) 1m21.746s, C3, 146 laps
9. Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m22.246s, C2, 147 laps
10. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 1m22.572s, C3, 23 laps
11. Albon (Williams) 1m22.760s, C3, 66 laps
12. Schumacher (Haas) 1m22.962s, C3, 23 laps
13. Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m23.327s, C3, 67 laps
14. Latifi (Williams) 1m23.379s, C3, 66 laps
15. Mazepin (Haas) 1m24.505s, C2, 20 laps
16. Kubica (Alfa Romeo) 1m25.909s, C3, 9 laps
