It was another strong day for the MercedesF1 team when their two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, completed a total of 170 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya taking turns at the wheel of the F1 W08 EQ Power+
First up for the day was Valtteri, who pulled out of the garage at 9 am where he completed 75 laps before the hour-long lunch break at 1pm. His programme consisted of aero data collection, moving on to analysis of the softer tyre compounds and setup work in preparation for Melbourne.
“I think it was another good session. We completed lots of mileage and the entire programme that we'd planned to do - including some long and short runs, collecting information on the different tyre compounds,” Valtteri said. “We did some aero work to start with in the morning when the conditions were cold, then moved onto testing different settings on the car.”
“It was a pretty straightforward day again, so I think everyone has done a great job so far. The car is running well and it's feeling better and better. It was definitely easier today without the windy conditions and I was able to experience the new car a bit more. One more day of testing left this week, with the wet running on Thursday, so I'm looking forward to getting more laps in tomorrow.”
Lewis took over in the cockpit for the afternoon session, completing 95 laps before the pit lane closed at 18:00. During that time he completed his first race simulation of 2017 before rounding off the day with further aero setup tests and pit stop practice.
“It's been a great test so far for the team. Everyone at the factory has worked so hard to build a car that goes the distance. As always on these test days we're trying to get through as much as possible, in terms of reliability,” Lewis said. “The main thing is I got my first race run done today with no problems at all. Everything's worked well, which I'm happy about. The car is running smoothly and we're just running through setup items to tick off boxes at this stage.”
“This is testing, so on the first week you never chase times. When you bring out a new car you don't have all of the components to be able to switch and make changes and work through everything you want to do - that's something that filters through over the days. Next week we should have a better opportunity to dial in the car, but for now we're focusing on mileage. Valtteri is doing a great job so far. His feedback seems solid, he's working great with the team and transitioning in smoothly.”
The Mercedes-Benz Power Units completed a total of 1,578km for day three. The test concludes here tomorrow with Lewis taking the morning shift and Valtteri the afternoon.
