Pre-Season Testing: Day 3 Recap

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen bolstered the team’s lap tally by an additional 172 tours on Saturday to make a final total of 415 laps – 2245.98 kilometers (1395.64 miles) recorded across the three days prior to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix March 3-5.

Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed his highest single-session lap count in the VF-23 with 77 laps credited to his account in the morning session. The German’s final run plan focused on some early baseline running, high-fuel learning and the overall goal of accruing as much mileage as possible – Hulkenberg’s personal total on the week boosted to 196 laps. A fastest lap of 1:33.329, set on Pirelli C3 tires, placed Hulkenberg P15 on the timesheet.

Kevin Magnussen wrapped up the on-track test action steering the VF-23 from the afternoon into the evening in Bahrain. The Dane clocked 95 laps – the single highest session total for the team this week – bringing his overall lap count to 219. With a successful race distance sim completed, Magnussen and the crew ended the test with full crew pit-stops through the final 30 minutes of track time. Magnussen finished P7 on the day with a best lap of 1:31.381 – earned on the softer C4 compound.

Nico Hulkenberg:

“All in all, it’s been good. I’ve got mileage in the car and I think I got what I was personally looking for, to get off on a good foot with the car, and find a good connection and harmony. I feel comfortable that the car does what I say and not the other way around. We’ve collected huge amounts of data that the team will go through and analyze over the next few days, and it’s all information that’s important for a driver as well.”

Kevin Magnussen: 

“It’s been a busy three days and that’s a very positive thing. Today we got a lot of laps in, and I was in the car from the beginning to the end – I only came out to go to the toilet! We completed a whole race in one run with live pit stops and going out again, so I’m pretty happy. You come into testing with a plan and you expect to be having to change that plan because of issues but we didn’t really have to. We got through it all, we nearly did 100 laps in one afternoon and that’s usually what you’d expect to do in one day.”

Guenther Steiner – Team Principal:

“It was a very good day today – more than 170 laps completed without an issue. A lot of test program, race simulation with one completed and one almost completed, so a very good day. In general, the test went very smoothly with very few issues compared to years before. The whole team came here very well prepared – we did our homework – so when we arrived, we were ready to go, and you could see that. It was good progress from last year so now we need to see where we stack-up. It’s difficult to say still but we are in the midfield, let’s see if we’re at the top or the end of the midfield but we’re now ready for the race next weekend.”

Today's Data

Event: Bahrain Pre-Season Test – Saturday February 25
Location: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
Layout: 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn track
Drivers: Nico Hulkenberg (HUL) / Kevin Magnussen (MAG)
HUL: Time / Laps / Distance: 1:33.329 (P15), 77 laps / 416.72 kilometers (258.95 miles)
MAG: Time / Laps / Distance: 1:31.381 (P7), 95 laps / 514.14 kilometers (319.48 miles)
Fastest Lap: 1:30.305 by Sergio Perez of Red Bull Racing
Most Laps: 136 laps by Alex Albon of Williams Racing