As the 2015 F1 Pre-Season tests come to an end, we’re left wondering if this year we’re not going to be still dancing to the same old tune as last year, with Mercedes showing amazing pace yet again.
On Saturday, Lewis Hamilton clocked in at 1:23.022s on the soft rubber despite the fact that it wasn’t a “particularly spectacular day” according to Lewis. He also added that “The track seems to have lost a bit of grip in the last few days so the feeling wasn’t as good. But I’m still glad we got some running done and I feel good in the car.”
Whether or not Hamilton could have matched his teammate’s extraordinary time from Friday (1:22.792s) if he had been more satisfied with the levels of grip he had, we’ll never know.
A quarter of a second behind Lewis was Brazilian Felipe Massa who drove the wheels of his Williams yet again, managing a quickest time of 1:23.262s, decades ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who’s overall third best time was roughly 2 seconds off Massa’s pace.
McLaren-Honda were yet again the one of the teams failing to reach the 100 lap mark, with substitute driver Kevin Magnussen managing to do just 39 laps on his first outing in the 2015 McLaren thanks to an oil leak.
“This year’s car is really different to last year’s” said Magnussen. “It feels much more consistent; it’s more predictable and driver-friendly. It’s not fast enough yet, but it feels like a solid baseline, and there’s obviously still plenty more to come. I think McLaren-Honda should have a good car if they continue in this direction.”
