Mercedes racks up most F1 pre-season miles

Mercedes has ended the eight days of Formula 1 pre-season testing as the most prolific of the 10 teams in action at Barcelona.

Two four-days tests at the Circuit de Catalunya provided the only opportunity for teams to understand their cars ahead of the new season, with the focus traditionally on reliability rather than outright pace.

Though Mercedes was often towards the top end of the time sheets across the eight days, Red Bull and Ferrari stole most of the headlines.

However, the four-time world championship winning team proved the busiest on track, with Lewis Hamilton recording 456 laps and Valtteri Bottas 584 laps.

Combined, it equates to a total of 4,481km worth of testing, more than 500km more than second best Ferrari.

The bulk of the Scuderia’s testing was performed by Sebastian Vettel, who was the most prolific driver with 642 laps to his name across both tests.

Kimi Raikkonen, his Ferrari team-mate, managed just 286 laps, though heavy rain on third day of the opening test restricted his running.

Of the full time drivers, only Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso recorded less.

Perez didn’t record a single lap in the first test, though managed 93 laps when he climbed into the Force India on the opening day of the second test, and another 159 two days later.

Interruptions at McLaren limited running for both Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, starting with a wheel nut failure on the opening day.

Oil leaks and turbocharger issues throughout the remaining seven days of testing saw the British squad set the least number of laps, just 599 of them, for less than 2,800km of running.

Despite a number of big days in the car for both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, Red Bull was only the sixth most prolific team, with 3,687km of experience now under its belt.

With no further testing before the start of the season, the next time the cars will be out on track will be for opening practice in Melbourne.

The Australian Grand Prix begins on March 22, with the first F1 session on March 23.

2018 Formula 1 pre-season testing mileage

Team	Driver	Test 1 Laps	Test 2 Laps	Total Laps	Total Km
Ferrari	Sebastian Vettel	218	425	643	2993
	Kimi Raikkonen	80	206	286	1331
Force India – Mercedes	Sergio Perez		252	252	1173
	Esteban Ocon	144	293	437	2034
	Nikita Mazepin	22		22	102
Haas – Ferrari	Romain Grosjean	55	259	314	1462
	Kevin Magnussen	132	249	381	1774
McLaren – Renault	Stoffel Vandoorne	147	189	336	1564
	Fernando Alonso	113	150	263	1224
Mercedes	Lewis Hamilton	94	362	456	2123
	Valtteri Bottas	212	372	584	2719
Red Bull – Renault	Daniel Ricciardo	107	257	364	1694
	Max Verstappen	102	326	428	1992
Renault	Nico Hulkenberg	122	229	351	1634
	Carlos Sainz	151	293	444	2067
Sauber – Ferrari	Marcus Ericsson	143	268	411	1913
	Charles Leclerc	140	235	375	1746
Toro Rosso – Honda	Pierre Gasly	229	223	452	2104
	Brendon Hartley	95	275	370	1722
Williams – Mercedes	Lance Stroll	100	243	343	1597
	Sergey Sirotkin	127	227	354	1648
	Robert Kubica	49	73	122	568