2019 Pre-Season Test I, Day 3

Both drivers complete a full race distance in the W10 at the third day of winter testing

Date:                           Wednesday, 20 February 2019

Drivers:                       Valtteri Bottas (AM), Lewis Hamilton (PM)

Circuit:                        Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Circuit Length:            4.655 km

Laps Completed:         Valtteri 88, Lewis 94, Total 182

Distance Covered:       Valtteri 410 km, Lewis 438 km, Total 847 km

Best Lap Time:             Valtteri 1:20.693, Lewis 1:20.818

The Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+ continued to prove its reliability as the team accumulated a total of 182 laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Both drivers completed race distances in the new car, as the team continued to work on its aerodynamic programme and systems checks.

• Valtteri was behind the wheel in the morning, completing an entire race distance and gathering aero data
• Lewis drove the car in the afternoon session, also completing a full race distance and focusing on various systems checks
• Mercedes-Benz Power Units completed a total of 1266 km today
• Lewis will be back at the wheel of the W10 tomorrow morning with Valtteri taking over for the afternoon
• Rights-free imagery of the morning run is available on our media site

Valtteri Bottas

Similar to the last two days, we did some more aero measurements in the morning. After that we completed a full race distance for the first time in the new car, 66 laps in a row without any issues. We’re learning more and more about the W10 and it again felt better than the day before. There’s still room for improvement, but we’re making progress every day.

Lewis Hamilton

We got a lot of mileage in again today, both Valtteri and myself completed a whole race distance, so it’s been a good day for reliability. We have been digging deep, trying to understand the car, pretty much the same as the beginning of every year. I love that challenge of coming back each year; getting into a new car is like meeting someone new – you don’t know the good and bad and the journey you go on with that car is a real privileged position. It’s crazy to think this is my seventh season with the team, and this looks like it is going to be the most challenging year of our partnership so I’m super excited. I love racing so nothing really changes there.

James Allison

Both drivers completed trouble-free race distances today and it was another very productive day for us in terms of knowing how hard we can lean on the tyres in these conditions. It’s all part of building the foundation for the week that will follow and it’s good to have those race distances tucked away so early in the test, leaving us able to focus a little bit more on performance tomorrow, but most of that work will come in the following week.