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Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas pipped Red Bull's Max Verstappen to top spot on the final day of testing for the 2020 Formula One season on Friday at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.
The Finn posted a time of one minute, 16.196 seconds to top the timesheets by 0.073 seconds from Verstappen, while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was third.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc ended the day in fourth place. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton came in fifth, finishing 0.214 seconds off top spot.
Here's a look at the classification at the end of Friday's action:
Morning Session Recap
Ricciardo set the pace in Friday's morning session with a time of 1:16.276 to finish ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.
Here are the times from the session:
The track was busy early on as all 10 drivers were quick to exit their garages, and Carlos Sainz raised a few eyebrows when he set a 1:17.508 in his McLaren on hard tyres, a time he quickly set about improving on.
He improved further still after swapping to medium tyres.
Kimi Raikkonen was the first driver to encounter some difficulties when his Alfa Romeo went for a spin:
Alexander Albon found himself in the gravel later on after a similar incident:
Sergio Perez eventually replaced Sainz atop the timesheets in his Racing Point before Leclerc went top with an hour remaining.
Ricciardo beat his time around 20 minutes later.
Afternoon Session Recap
The afternoon session saw a number of drivers putting in the laps on the final testing day before the season gets underway in Melbourne, Australia, on March 15. Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, George Russell, Daniil Kvyat and Raikkonen all passed 100 laps on a cooling track in Barcelona.
Bottas continued his strong pace in testing by again posting the fastest lap of the day and beating Ricciardo's best time of the morning session by just 0.05 seconds. The Mercedes driver then improved on his time again to cement top spot.
Verstappen also managed to move ahead of the Renault driver in the afternoon session but could not do quite enough to beat Bottas:
Renault's Esteban Ocon managed to put together a lap that saw him end the day in sixth and post a time just 0.02 seconds behind world champion Hamilton.
Yet it was a tough afternoon for Haas. Kevin Magnusson spent most of the afternoon in the garage with a clutch issue and could only complete 29 laps.
An incident-free session ended with Red Bull's Albon at the bottom of the timesheets, while defending champions Mercedes look in good shape to defend their title ahead of the start of the new season.
Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets in both first and second practice in Abu Dhabi on Friday as the final weekend of the 2019 Formula One season got under way.
In the second session of the day, he clocked a fastest lap time of one minute, 36.256 seconds to edge his Mercedes team-mate, world champion Lewis Hamilton, into second.
The Finn also had a coming together with Romain Grosjean during the session, which drew a late red flag.
Bottas was fastest in the first session with a lap of 1:36.957 at the Yas Marina Circuit, putting him ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
FP2 Recap
Here all the full standings for the evening's action:
The main drama of the second session came late on when Bottas, 20 minutes from time, took an unnecessary dive down the inside of Grosjean's Haas.
The Frenchman didn't see the Mercedes driver, turned in, and the pair collided, causing significant damage to both cars:
Remarkably, Bottas was able to get back out on track before the end of the session, but it marked the end of Grosjean's day.
Earlier in the session, Verstappen had set the pace before he was pushed down the standings by Mercedes and Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc did well to avoid causing major damage to his car when he clipped the wall early in proceedings.
FP1 Recap
Here are the timesheets from the opening practice session:
Leclerc, Bottas and Hamilton exchanged the fastest lap times early in the action, but that was as good as it got for Ferrari.
The Italian outfit have endured a mistake-ridden season that prevented them from really competing for the world championship.
And there was another from Sebastian Vettel late in Friday's opening session.
A slight misjudgement at Turn 19 saw the German spin and drive his left-rear wheel into the barriers:
It meant a premature end to the session, which had already been interrupted when Daniel Ricciardo ground to a halt with smoke coming from his engine and oil leaking on to the track:
Ricciardo's Renault team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, finished 10th fastest in potentially his final first practice session in F1.
Lewis Hamilton showed a much-improved performance in second practice on Friday ahead of the 2019 United States Grand Prix, topping the time sheets after a less impressive opener in FP1.
He finished fastest in one minute, 33.232 seconds, three tenths of a second quicker than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in second and eight tenths of a second faster than Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas:
There was only 0.014 seconds between Leclerc and third-place finisher Max Verstappen, who finished third after cutting half-a-second off his FP1-topping time. Sebastian Vettel finished fourth but was 0.357 seconds slower than Ferrari team-mate Leclerc.
Hamilton—who will clinch a sixth world title on Sunday as long as he doesn't lose 22 points to Bottas—finished four places ahead of Bottas and looks to be in good shape heading into the weekend.
FP2 Recap
Standings leader Hamilton was in need of a quick turnaround following a disappointing show in FP1, and he successfully returned to the top of the time sheets in FP2.
The five-time champion was also rejoined by race engineer Peter Bonnington, who returned to the pit after missing the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday due to a medical procedure:
Having adjusted to the bumpy conditions at the Circuit of Americas, the Briton took one step closer to securing pole on Saturday while some of his rivals were tormented.
Vettel spun late in FP2 at Turn 15, while there was a red flag earlier in the session following Romain Grosjean's crash into the barriers on only his fourth lap:
Leclerc replied there was "no way I can do that" when told Hamilton's time just 10 laps into his own run, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, a premonition that came true in the end.
McLaren's Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll of Racing Point almost had a collision right at the end of the session.
Bottas will eye improvements of his own on Saturday as he seeks to cut down the gap on Hamilton, the Finn being the only driver in the field who can prevent his team-mate from winning the 2019 crown.
Leclerc and Verstappen look like the most likely challengers for first place in Texas as things stand, though Hamilton looks to already be gathering the momentum he needs to clinch silverware come Sunday.
FP1 Recap
Verstappen finished fastest in the first practice session, topping the leaderboard with a best lap of one minute, 34.057 seconds.
Ferrari's Vettel finished second and a little more than two-tenths of a second off the pace, while Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate, Alexander Albon, ended the session in third.
The chilly temperatures at the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas, saw several star names fail to warm up quite as expected, with Bottas finishing FP1 down in 17th with a fastest lap of 1:36.159.
Formula One posted a breakdown of the fastest lap times from FP1:
Hamilton, 34, is on the verge of becoming the second driver in history to win six world titles; seven-time champion and F1 legend Michael Schumacher is the only other driver to do so.
Three races are left in the 2019 season, and Hamilton could set a new personal record for wins in a single year, per Mercedes:
Verstappen has mustered only one pole finish so far this season—at the Hungarian Grand Prix in August—but the Dutchman is on course to double that tally after a strong start in FP1.
Hamilton could be heard complaining about the track over his team radio and referred to it as "the bumpiest track in the world," per BBC Sport.
Former Formula One driver Marcus Ericsson replied to concerns over the track condition and argued everyone would have to race in the same conditions:
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc couldn't match Vettel's pace and finished seventh, one place and less than one-tenth of a second faster than Hamilton after he had a lap scratched off due to exceeding track limits.
Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly will be content with fourth and an impressive 32 laps—only Bottas (40) recorded more—and was less than one second slower than former Red Bull team-mate Verstappen.
Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo—10th in the drivers' standings—came fifth in 1:35.263 and also showed promise as he seeks to finish on an F1 podium for the first time this season.
Formula One's 2019 season begins on Sunday with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Defending champion Lewis Hamilton has taken the title for the last two years in a row, and he remains the strongest contender to outpace the rest again.
Familiar competition will come from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, but the team doesn't look as strong as a year ago, since Kimi Raikkonen has been replaced by Charles Leclerc.
Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing will count on the precocious Max Verstappen to keep the team relevant. Things look different after Daniel Ricciardo joined Renault and Pierre Gasly came on board.
Sky Sports has provided times and dates for the practice and qualifying sessions ahead of each race.
Leclerc is under pressure to deliver following Raikkonen's somewhat controversial exit. Still just 21, Leclerc made his F1 debut in 2018 and recently caught the eye during testing in Barcelona.
Despite the youngster's potential, Ferrari's hopes still rest on Vettel's form. The German is a four-time champion, who routinely beat Raikkonen but has suffered while Mercedes have dominated.
Whether the infusion of youth and excitement Leclerc brings will prove enough to motivate Vettel will be one of the more intriguing storylines of the new season.
It's still likely to be all about Hamilton and the Silver Arrows, though. However, the 34-year-old sounded nervous recently when he compared the quality of Mercedes' cars to the Ferrari vehicles.
The Briton admitted "we have a hill to climb, but we know how to do it," per Charlie Malam of the Daily Express. It's a reference to how Ferrari has outpaced Mercedes consistently during pre-season testing.
Improvements in the Ferrari cars were notable last season, but those tweaks ultimately counted for nothing against Hamilton's experience and incredible will to win. He's the best driver on the best team, a formidable combination for the rest to overcome.
Of those looking to close the gap, Red Bull face the toughest challenge. The fracture between Ricciardo and Vertappen hasn't helped.
Ricciardo described how their tempestuous clash at last year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix influenced his choice to move on, per Matthew Clayton of the Sydney Morning Herald: "I struggled to let that go, the whole race and the aftermath. That played a part in my decision. I never really felt the same after that."
Verstappen looks like a future F1 champion, and a more amiable sense of competition with new teammate Gasly will only help his chances. For now, though, it looks another season set to be defined by the tussle between Vettel and Hamilton.
