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. 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 Motorsport Guides and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast. His work has appeared on WTF1, BadgerGP, motorsport.com, Sky Sports F1 and BBC Radio 5 Live. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast.
