» Norris quickest as F1 testing resumes

With four action-packed days of pre-season testing under their belts last week, the Formula 1 teams returned to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for their final hit-out ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Every team came with a wealth of new development parts to test out and once again the focus of the day was on mileage rather than posting a headline-grabbing lap time.

For what it was worth, the top of the time sheets were crowded by the series’ youngsters, with McLaren rookie Lando Norris narrowly edging Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly by a scant six-thousandths of a second.

While Norris may have been the day’s pace-setter, the English youngster did not have a drama-free day. His morning’s running was interrupted by a hydraulics-induced stoppage, and shortly after posting his quickest time of the day in the afternoon session his MCL34 again ground to a halt. His 80 laps was well short of what the Woking squad – which was paid a surprise visit by former driver Fernando Alonso – would have hoped for and it actually proved to be the lowest mileage achieved by any team for the day.

Top of the mileage tally but languishing towards the bottom of the time sheets was the factory Renault squad. Splitting its running between Nico Hülkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, the duo posted a combined total of 157 laps for the day – well over two Grand Prix distances between them.

Second-fastest Gasly was the day’s highest solo mileage accumulator, posting 136 laps in his Honda-powered RB15. The Frenchman was shadowed by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, who managed 131 tours of the Spanish Grand Prix venue in his Ferrari-powered VF-19.

A team in desperate need of mileage is Williams, thanks to its new FW42 being late to make its on-track debut. With George Russell at the wheel, the new car was put through an extensive programme and clocked 119 laps for the day – more than what the team had managed in their less than two days of running last week.

Scuderia Ferrari opted to split its running between Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, although Leclerc’s programme was limited to just 29 laps while the team investigated alarmingly high temperatures under the SF90’s cowling. Teammate Vettel had a drama-free afternoon session and managed 81 laps, giving the team a combined total of 110 laps for the day.

Alexander Albon (Scuderia Toro Rosso) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) both had productive days, clocking up 103 and 99 laps respectively by the end of the day.

Defending champions Mercedes suffered their first evident mechanical drama on their W10. After Lewis Hamilton managed 83 laps in the morning session, teammate Valtteri Bottas was forced back into the pits after a handful of laps with an oil pressure issue. The team opted to change the entire power unit, which kept the Finn confined to the garage for almost the rest of the day.

2019 FORMULA 1 PRE-SEASON TEST – DAY 5 UNOFFICIAL TIMES
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team MCL34	1:17.709		80
2.	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing RB15	1:17.715	+ 0.006	136
3.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point F1 Team RP19	1:17.824	+ 0.115	82
4.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF90	1:17.925	+ 0.216	81
5.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing C38	1:18.589	+ 0.880	99
6.	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14	1:18.649	+ 0.940	103
7.	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari SF90	1:18.651	+ 0.942	29
8.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team VF-19	1:18.769	+ 1.060	131
9.	George Russell	ROKiT Williams Racing FW42	1:19.662	+ 1.953	119
10.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team RS19	1:20.107	+ 2.398	77
11.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10	1:20.167	+ 2.458	7
12.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10	1:20.332	+ 2.623	83
13.	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault F1 Team RS19	1:20.348	+ 2.639	80