Fernando Alonso believes Ferrari has fastest car as Barcelona testing concludes

Barcelona was the first venue to showcase these new challengers, with the ten teams taking to the track for a three-day testing session.

Charles Leclerc's Ferrari at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. (Image: Twitter/Scuderia Ferrari)
By Nilavro Ghosh | Feb 27, 2022 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Alpine driver Fernando Alonso singled out his former team Ferrari as the pacesetters after the conclusion of the Barcelona testing. Not in a long time has there been such excitement surrounding the start of a new Formula One season, owing largely to the fact that there are so many unknowns, with major rule changes resulting in new-look cars for the 2022 season. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was the first venue to showcase these new challengers, with the ten teams taking to the track for a three-day group shakedown.

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It is never a good idea to judge a team’s pace based on testing times, but there is no denying that Ferrari looked strong as they prioritised reliability over speed. Ferrari completed the most laps of any team over the three days, with 439, and their fastest lap time, courtesy of Charles Leclerc, was just over half a second slower than Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark, despite the fact that it was set on the C3 tyres, whereas Hamilton went all the way to the highest-grip C5 rubber. As a result of his observations, Alonso believes Ferrari is the fastest team in the world at the moment.

“Ferrari seems to be the fastest car, which is surely a surprise,” Alonso said as per Marca. “For Carlos [Sainz] it’s great news and for Spain in general.”

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Hamilton fastest over three days

The two-time world champion also praised Mercedes for the pace they displayed in testing. Former world champion Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time over three days with 1:19.138. The Brit also acknowledged Ferrari’s pace and credited it to the fact that the Italian outfit had been working on the 2022 car for a longer time than others.

“We could assume that Ferrari maybe didn’t develop their 2021 car very much and put everything into this year’s car,” Hamilton told reporters. “This could mean they could be several months ahead of the rest of the teams, but we’ll have to wait and see.”