Who completed the most laps? Who set the fastest times? Who caused the most red flags? We have all the answers for you as we take a look at the statistics from F1’s 2020 pre-season testing!
REPORTS FROM EACH DAY
Before we delve into the numbers, here’s a summary of what happened on each day at testing. Click on a day to see the full report.
Day 1: Day 1 of pre-season testing saw Lewis Hamilton lead a Mercedes 1-2, with the team also completing the most laps.
Day 2: As Mercedes raised eyebrows with their innovative DAS system, Alfa Romeo set the fastest lap time of the day.
Day 3: There were plenty of red flags as the lap times tumbled at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Day 4: Robert Kubica topped the timesheet for Alfa Romeo, while Red Bull and Racing Point showed good pace on harder tyre compounds.
Day 5: Ferrari set the pace and Williams complete the most laps as Mercedes ended the day bottom of the lap count.
Day 6: As the teams’ pre-season running came to an end, the majority of their best lap times tumbled.
FASTEST TIME EACH DAY
Five different drivers and three different teams set the fastest time of the day over the six days of F1 testing.
Day | Driver | Team | Time | Tyre |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.976 | C2 |
2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1:17.091 | C5 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:15.732 | C5 |
4 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | 1:16.942 | C5 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:16.841 | C5 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:16.196 | C5 |
RED FLAGS
There were twelve red flags over the six days of pre-season testing in 2020, thirteen less than there were over last year’s eight days. Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari caused the most red flags, while Nicholas Latifi and Max Verstappen were the only other drivers to cause multiple stoppages. Here are all the red flags from testing and their causes:
DAY 1
No red flags
DAY 2
PM: Kimi Raikkonen comes to a halt, purposefully ran out of fuel
DAY 3
AM: Sebastian Vettel stops at Turn 12, engine problem
AM: Nicholas Latifi stopped on main straight, lost drive
PM: Kevin Magnussen in gravel between Turns 7 and 9 after a puncture at the rear
PM: Daniel Ricciardo stops on track near Turn 9
DAY 4
AM: Sebastian Vettel spins at Turn 8 but keeps going, red flag for mess on track
AM: Nicholas Latifi stops between Turns 9 and 10
PM: Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat both stopped on track at the same time
DAY 5
AM: Antonio Giovinazzi spins and hits barrier, red flag for debris
AM: Max Verstappen spins into gravel at Turn 5
AM: Sebastian Vettel spins at Turn 5, red flag for gravel on circuit
PM: Lewis Hamilton stops on track, oil pressure anomaly, engine shutdown as precaution
DAY 6
No red flags
FASTEST LAP FOR EACH DRIVER
Here’s the fastest lap set by each driver over the six days of testing:
Driver | Team | Time | Tyre | Day | |
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:15.732 | C5 | Day 3 |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:16.269 | C4 | Day 6 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:16.276 | C5 | Day 6 |
4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:16.360 | C5 | Day 6 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.410 | C5 | Day 6 |
6 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1:16.433 | C4 | Day 6 |
7 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 1:16.634 | C3 | Day 6 |
8 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 1:16.820 | C4 | Day 6 |
9 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:16.841 | C5 | Day 5 |
10 | George Russell | Williams | 1:16.871 | C5 | Day 6 |
11 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | 1:16.914 | C3 | Day 6 |
12 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | 1:16.942 | C5 | Day 4 |
13 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:17.037 | C4 | Day 6 |
14 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:17.066 | C5 | Day 5 |
15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1:17.091 | C5 | Day 2 |
16 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1:17.118 | C3 | Day 5 |
17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:17.313 | C5 | Day 5 |
18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1:17.469 | C4 | Day 3 |
19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:17.495 | C4 | Day 6 |
20 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | 1:17.550 | C2 | Day 4 |
21 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:17.573 | C3 | Day 5 |
FASTEST LAP FOR EACH TEAM
Here’s the fastest lap set by each team over the six days of testing:
Team | Time | Tyre | Day | |
1 | Mercedes | 1:15.732 | C5 | Day 3 |
2 | Red Bull | 1:16.269 | C4 | Day 6 |
3 | Renault | 1:16.276 | C5 | Day 6 |
4 | Ferrari | 1:16.360 | C5 | Day 6 |
5 | Racing Point | 1:16.634 | C3 | Day 6 |
6 | McLaren | 1:16.820 | C4 | Day 6 |
7 | Williams | 1:16.871 | C5 | Day 6 |
8 | AlphaTauri | 1:16.914 | C3 | Day 6 |
9 | Alfa Romeo | 1:16.942 | C5 | Day 4 |
10 | Haas | 1:17.037 | C4 | Day 6 |
DRIVER LAP COUNT
Here’s how many laps each driver completed on each day of testing and their overall totals:
Driver DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 TOTAL
Lewis Hamilton 94 106 73 89 14 90 466
Carlos Sainz 161 - 76 46 - 163 446
Charles Leclerc 132 49 - 80 - 181 442
Sergio Perez 58 145 - 84 - 154 441
Valtteri Bottas 79 77 65 90 47 79 437
Max Verstappen 168 - 86 84 31 45 414
Sebastian Vettel - 73 100 84 145 - 402
Daniil Kvyat 116 - 62 61 - 160 399
Romain Grosjean - 158 48 107 - 86 399
George Russell 73 116 - 59 - 146 394
Esteban Ocon 62 52 76 74 37 75 376
Pierre Gasly - 147 59 25 139 - 370
Daniel Ricciardo 56 41 93 53 59 65 367
Alex Albon - 134 83 29 61 59 366
Lando Norris - 137 49 57 113 - 356
Nicholas Latifi 63 - 72 48 160 - 343
Lance Stroll 52 - 116 43 130 - 341
Antonio Giovinazzi 79 - 152 - 92 - 323
Kimi Raikkonen - 134 - 51 - 115 300
Kevin Magnussen 106 - 4 - 111 29 250
Robert Kubica 59 - - 53 - - 112
TEAM LAP COUNT
Here’s how many laps each team completed on each day of testing and their overall totals:
Team DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 TOTAL
Mercedes 173 183 138 179 61 169 903
Ferrari 132 122 100 164 145 181 844
McLaren 161 137 125 103 113 163 802
Racing Point 110 145 116 127 130 154 782
Red Bull 168 134 169 113 92 104 780
AlphaTauri 116 147 121 86 139 160 769
Renault 118 93 169 127 96 140 743
Williams 136 116 72 107 160 146 737
Alfa Romeo 138 134 152 104 92 115 735
Haas 106 158 52 107 111 115 649
2018 v 2019 v 2020 LAP COUNT
7,992 laps were completed over the two weeks of testing in 2018 – with a number of days in the first week being affected by poor weather conditions. 8,775 laps were completed over the eight days of the 2019 test. In 2020, there were only six days of testing, with the teams completing 7,744 laps in total. Here’s how each team’s lap count compares year on year:
2018 Lap Count 2019 Lap Count 2020 Lap Count
Mercedes 1040 1190 903
Ferrari 929 997 844
Red Bull 783 833 780
McLaren 599 873 802
Renault 795 962 743
AlphaTauri 835 935 769
Racing Point 711 625 782
Alfa Romeo 786 922 735
Haas 695 871 649
Williams 819 567 737
TEAM MATE LAP COUNT COMPARISON
Which drivers have completed the most laps in comparison to their team mate? The data is below:
- Romain Grosjean completed 149 laps more than Kevin Magnussen
- Sergio Perez completed 100 laps more than Lance Stroll
- Carlos Sainz completed 90 laps more than Lando Norris
- George Russell completed 51 laps more than Nicholas Latifi
- Max Verstappen completed 48 laps more than Alex Albon
- Charles Leclerc completed 40 laps more than Sebastian Vettel
- Daniil Kvyat completed 29 laps more than Pierre Gasly
- Antonio Giovinazzi completed 23 laps more than Kimi Raikkonen
- Lewis Hamilton completed 29 laps more than Valtteri Bottas
- Esteban Ocon completed 9 laps more than Daniel Ricciardo
BEST LAP TIME COMPARISON
How much faster (or slower) were each team in testing this year than last year? Here’s a comparison of each team’s best 2020 testing lap compared to their best 2019 testing lap, complete with the tyre compound on which each lap time was set:
Best 2019 Time 2019 Tyre Best 2020 Time 2020 Tyre Difference
Williams 1:18.130 C5 1:16.871 C5 -1.259
Racing Point 1:17.556 C5 1:16.634 C3 -0.922
Red Bull 1:17.091 C5 1:16.269 C4 -0.822
Renault 1:16.843 C5 1:16.276 C5 -0.567
Mercedes 1:16.224 C5 1:15.732 C5 -0.492
Alfa Romeo 1:17.239 C5 1:16.942 C5 -0.297
McLaren 1:16.913 C5 1:16.820 C4 -0.093
Haas 1:17.076 C5 1:17.037 C4 -0.039
AlphaTauri 1:16.882 C5 1:16.914 C3 0.032
Ferrari 1:16.221 C5 1:16.360 C5 0.139
After graduating in 2015 with a First Class honours degree in English Language and Literature, Nicky Haldenby, a lifelong fan of Formula 1, founded the Lights Out F1 Blog in 2016. Now in its sixth season, the blog has become a firm fan-favourite, delving deep into the sport’s history books and lifting the cover on unusual F1 statistics. Nicky also writes at F1Destinations and GPDestinations. In 2017 and 2018, he wrote for Badger GP. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast.