Kiwi Brendon Hartley records fifth-fastest time in Formula 1 winter test

  • 08/03/2018

Kiwi Formula 1 driver Brendon Hartley has enjoyed a successful day during pre-season testing on day two of the final test.

The Toro Rosso driver completed 119 laps in Barcelona, and produced the fifth-fastest lap time of 1:19.823.

The 29-year old's day wasn't perfect, spinning out near the exit of the pit lane.

Despite that, Hartley was satisfied with his performance.

"Today was a really good day. We had just some little issues in the afternoon which cost us a little bit of time, but we made up for it in the end with a couple of long runs on high fuel.

"We tried some different setups this morning which made the car quite tricky to drive, but I'm happy to have a couple of spins in testing... it's better to have them here than in the race.

"In the afternoon I was really comfortable with the car and the long runs, and satisfied to bang in a reasonable time in the end."

Hartley also praised the reliability of the Honda engine inside his car.

After having a number of problems with Renault engines in 2017, Toro Rosso decided to switch manufactures this season and so far, they are proving to be successful.

"I'm getting to know the STR13 more and more - I hadn't driven since day one of the first test - so that was a really productive day for me and it was nice to see how the car has progressed.

"Everything has been quite reliable so far, we had a couple of hiccups the last two days which have been resolved and all understood, so overall it's been very good."

Australian Daniel Ricciardo posted the quickest time with 1:18.047, which set an unofficial track record for the Circuit de Catalunya.

Ricciardo finished 0.353s ahead of reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, with teammate Valtteri Bottas in third.

Newshub.