Lewis Hamilton topped the times on the last session of testing before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
The British McLaren driver, champion in 2008, clocked a fastest lap of 1 minute, 20.472 seconds, the quickest time of any driver over the four days of pre-season trials in Barcelona.
He edged out Red Bull’s Australian driver Mark Webber and Felipe Massa, Ferrari’s Brazilian ace back from last year’s season-ending horror injury at Monza.
PHOTO: AFP
Comeback king Michael Schumacher, the seven time former champion, came in sixth in the Mercedes GP.
Less than half a second covered the first eight drivers to underline the closeness of the top teams in terms of competitiveness.
Former F1 driver turned commentator for the BBC Martin Brundle singled out Ferrari however as being slightly ahead of the pack.
“Ferrari are the best in terms of good pace and reliability, and their tyre management seems strong,” he said. “Next up is probably Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes with Williams and Sauber hustling behind.”
Ross Brawn, who as boss of Brawn GP masterminded his team and Jenson Button’s path to last year’s constructor and driver’s titles, predicted a “super-hard battle” for this year’s championship.
“You saw in the beginning of testing that Ferrari were quite dominant but based on this test the teams are all pretty close,” Brawn told the BBC.
Brawn this season is acting as Mercedes’ team boss after the German manufacturer took a controlling stake in his outfit.
He suggested Mercedes still had some work to do.
“I don’t think Michael [Schumacher] will be the issue; we’ve got to get the car a little bit better. We’re just a little bit off where we want to be but we’re close enough to be within reach,” Brawn said.
“We’re getting some mileage done now and this morning you saw us have a go on lower fuel levels. We’re not a long way off, we’re just a few tenths off where we want to be,” he said. “We have a new package for Bahrain and I hope that makes the difference. The balance is getting better, there’s set-up and obviously efficiency counts. So the upgrade should bring predominantly an efficiency improvement and therefore a performance improvement.”
“We are close enough to have a go at [winning races], but obviously we’re not enjoying the same situation as we were last year,” he said.
Last year Brawn caused a sensation, taking over the Honda team after their pull out and producing a car helped by its controversial double-diffuser that was streets clear of its rivals, with Button steering it to wins in six of the first seven grand prix.
Brawn was at Schumacher’s side for all of the German’s seven titles, two with Benetton and five with Ferrari and he commented: “Michael has been very intense in terms of his approach.”
“He’s pretty close to what I remember. He stopped because he was tired of F1 but that’s gone now. He’s very passionate about racing again and is working hard with Nico [Rosberg] to improve the car,” Brawn said.
The Bahrain Grand Prix gets the circus rolling on March 14.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS