Quickest time set on supersoft tyre in dry morning session before rain fell; Ocon completes most laps for Mercedes; Red Bull trial Halo
Wednesday 13 July 2016 00:09, UK
Fernando Alonso finished more than 1.5s clear of his nearest challenger on an encouraging first day of in-season testing for McLaren at Silverstone.
The Spaniard, who failed to score a point at the British GP despite the MP4-31's upgrades, set a 1:31.290 in the morning session before a downpour during the lunchtime break had teams ducking for cover in the pits.
The pace was so impressive that Alonso's benchmark would have earned him sixth on the grid had he set it in Q3 last weekend. However, it was set on the supersoft tyre, a compound which wasn't then available to drivers.
Leading the chasing pack was Mercedes youngster Esteban Ocon, who stuck to the medium compound for the entire morning and completed 80 laps, eventually adding 43 on a wet afternoon to rack up the most of the day.
Alex Lynn enjoyed another test for Williams in third while current GP3 leader Charles Leclerc, fresh from his F1 debut in practice for Haas, finished fourth for Ferrari. Their times, however, were some three seconds shy of Alonso's best effort.
Race regulars Carlos Sainz and Rio Haryanto finished sixth and ninth for Toro Rosso and Manor respectively while Pascal Wehrlein ran in eighth in the 2014 Mercedes car, testing 2017 tyre components and materials for Pirelli.
But by far the most fascinating, if not surprising, story of the day came from Red Bull, who completed an installation lap with the Halo fitted to Pierre Gasly's car at the beginning of the test.
Despite pioneering the 'Aeroscreen' concept, Red Bull tested the cockpit protection system - which Ferrari have trialled twice this season, most frequently in last week's British GP P1 - despite Christian Horner's recent criticism of the device.
Full story: Red Bull run Halo at Silverstone
The team principal said he wouldn't be voting the Halo, FIA's preferred head safety mechanism for next season, in for 2017 and that it shouldn't be "rushed through". Force India deputy team boss Bob Fernley, speaking to Sky Sports News HQ on Tuesday, agreed with Horner - adding that he thought a driver could get hurt.
"We need to do a lot more work to understand that the Halo isn't going to create other problems, which I think it will do," he told Craig Slater. "I think you could actually create other opportunities for injuries to drivers and therefore it's not the right solution."
Gasly, meanwhile, said the Halo looked a "bit weird" and that he believed Formula 1 should stay the way it is.
On slick tyres and in the dry, a flurry of activity at the start of the day saw Ocon, who is testing on both days for Mercedes because of their need to field a young driver, rush to the top of the timesheets. But the Frenchman, a reserve driver at Renault this season, was quickly leapfrogged by Fernando Alonso.
The 34-year-old's fastest time came during a three-lap stint on the supersoft tyre, with Ocon concentrating on longer medium stints in the W07. Alonso eventually completed 105 laps and was by far the most experienced driver on display. In fact, by taking him out of the equation, the average age of the field was less than 20 years old.
Nikita Mazepin, 17, and Santino Ferrucci, 18, helped lower that average age on their F1 debuts for Force India and Haas. Mazepin, a Formula Renault 2.0 driver finished fifth with a 1:34.521, with GP2 competitor Ferruci down in seventh.
Sergey Sirotkin of Renault and Gasly propped up the field but the Red Bull youngster was plagued by a wiring problem all morning, only managing nine laps in the dry. When the issue was fixed and the engine was fired up again, the heavy rain had started.
The torrential downpour was lengthy, if not as sudden as the shower that saw Sunday's race start behind a Safety Car, and few teams ran on the full wet tyre. Conditions slowly improved but the track didn't dry out, while the afternoon session was bizarrely interrupted by a red flag when a piece of wood fell from the lighting gantry above the pit-straight. The two-metre long baton fell to the near-side of the track before being quickly removed - but it was certainly a safety scare.
The first day of the second and final in-season test of 2016 finished with limited running on the intermediate tyre - though no one could get close to Alonso. The test concludes on Wednesday, with the green flag at 9am. See the full driver line-up here.
Silverstone in-season test, day one
1. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:31.290, 105 laps
2. Esteban Ocon, Mercedes, 1:32.833, 123 laps
3. Alex Lynn, Williams, 1:34.433, 54 laps
4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:34.466, 19 laps
5. Nikita Mazepin, Force India, 1:34.521, 35 laps
6. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:34.643, 91 laps
7. Santino Ferrucci, Haas, 1:34.866, 55 laps
8. Pascal Wehrlein, Pirelli test, 1:34.982, 48 laps
9. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:35.631, 64 laps
10. Sergey Sirotkin, 1:36.575, Renault, 48 laps
11. Pierre Gasly, 1:43.891, Red Bull, 50 laps
Don't miss Wednesday's F1 Report at 8.30pm as Sky F1's Ted Kravitz and 1981 Silverstone winner John Watson join Marc Priestley to review the British GP and Lewis Hamilton's latest triumph.
