The 2015 season of Formula1 kicked off at Jerez with the first pre-season test and while all teams got the first taste of their new cars, the Sahara Force India team was the only one to miss out. In the four days of testing, Ferrari tops the charts on three occasions. The teams then headed to Barcelona for a more exhaustive test run.
The Lotus F1 Team had a pretty good start to the second pre-season test with Pastor Maldonado posting the fastest time on Day1. The Venezuelan did suffer some problems at the beginning and had to stop twice due to some sensor issues but managed to get it fixed and beat Kimi Raikkonen's best time of the day. The Finn ended the day with a lap time that was just 0.156 seconds off the pacesetter's time. The Ferrari SF15-T even proved to be reliable completing 70 laps without any troubles. Fascinatingly, the Lotus and Ferrari drivers' time were faster than Lewis Hamilton's pole position time in Barcelona last year. Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez set the third and fourth fastest time on Day1 for Red Bull and Force India.
Red Bull seemed to be testing for reliability after Ricciardo went round the circuit 143 times. The Australian even managed to post the fastest time on Day2 with Raikkonen once again second fastest. Felipe Massa who took over the wheel from Susie Wolff on Day2 was third quickest in his Williams. The Mercedes Team once again didn't seem to be testing for pace as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could only manage a fifth and sixth fastest time.
On day three Maldonado once again put the Lotus F1 team at the top and set what would be the third fastest time of the second pre-season test. Interestingly, the Lotus driver was able to chop of 0.8 seconds from his best time on Day1. Rookie Max Verstappen posted 129 laps in his Toro Rosso and also posted the second fastest time of Day3. The third day ended with Hamilton, Marcus Ericsson and Vettel securing third, fourth and fifth fastest times.
Day4 saw the other Lotus driver Romain Grosjean ensured that the E23 remained at the top. The Frenchman's 1:24.067 minute lap was the best time of the second pre-season test. Mercedes not only tested for endurance but also for speed on the last day as Rosberg posted the second fastest time proving that the Mercedes is not to be taken lightly this year either. Daniil Kvyat drove the third fastest lap for the Red Bull team.
Fernando Alonso suffered a crash on the last day of the Barcelona test just prior to the lunch break after his car left the track on turn 3 and crashed against the wall. The Spaniard was immediately air-lifted and taken to the medical centre. McLaren stated that the crash happened due to the 'unpredictably gusty winds'.
Looking at the pre-season test so far, each of the teams has taken a different approach to it. Red Bull has been all secretive about front nose design with the camouflage livery. Mercedes on the other hand seems to be focusing more on reliability than speed ensuring that they get as much track time as possible. And they have proven to be reasonably fast too. Ferrari topped three of the four days at Jerez but here at Barcelona they seemed to be a lot more relaxed. Within Ferrari though, Raikkonen has proved to be faster than his German team-mate. In the second test though, the Lotus F1 Team was indeed a surprise package topping the charts on three days. Keep all of this in mind, it sure is going to be quite an interesting 2015 Formula 1 season coming ahead.
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