Why unloved Lotus 76 may be Colin Chapman's most significant car
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
Sebastian Vettel fastest so far in second F1 test, but top three remain close
Sebastian Vettel’s time of 1min20.396sec, set on medium tyres, put him at the top of the leaderboard on day one of the second Formula 1 pre-season test. He completed the highest number of laps, 86, on Tuesday morning.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas filed in second on softs with a time of 1min20.596sec, two tenths behind the leading Ferrari, having completed 85 laps. That tally was matched by third-place Max Verstappen, whose fastest time was a 1min20.649sec on medium tyres, ahead of Toro Rosso’s soft-shod Pierre Gasly.
Force India completed a handful of laps, 37 down at lunch, as Sergio Pérez spun in the gravel early on to put himself ninth in the standings. McLaren had a difficult morning with supersoft-equipped Stoffel Vandoorne in last place. Vandoorne’s MCL33 broke down on track after just six laps with a power unit failure, though he emerged with minutes of the morning session remaining to set an installation lap.
Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|
Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1min 20.396sec(Medium) | 86 |
Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1min 20.3596sec (Soft) | 85 |
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1min 20.649sec (Medium) | 85 |
Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1min 20.973sec (Soft) | 52 |
Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1min 21.298sec (Soft) | 46 |
Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1min 21.432sec (Medium) | 48 |
Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 1min 21.588sec (Soft) | 32 |
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1min 21.893sec (Soft) | 56 |
Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1min 21.893sec (Soft) | 37 |
Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1min 24.773sec (Supersoft) | 7 |
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
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