Fastest laps and relative compound
As we know, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap of winter testing, a performance also accomplished by the Scuderia in 2017 with Kimi Raikkonen.
All fastest times at the Circuit de Catalunya laps were logically achieved in Week 2, thanks to better weather.
Fernando Alonso's third best time is some consolation to McLaren, once again a victim of poor reliability in pre-season testing.
Relative performance is obviously hard to judge, with drivers running on different tyres, with different set-ups and fuel loads. However, among the mid-field runners, one will note that at Renault, Carlos Sainz ended winter testing comfortably ahead Nico Hulkenberg, while Gasly and Leclerc are both also well ahead of their respective team mate.
Furthermore, it's not indicated here but looking at fastest laps by tyre, Vettel was the fastest driver on Pirelli's Hypersoft and Ultrasoft compounds, Raikkonen was fastest on the Soft rubber, Williams' Sergey Sirotkin was fastest on the Soft tyre and Valtteri Bottas put in the best performance of all drivers on the Medium compound.
It's worth noting that Mercedes essentially focused on the medium and soft tyres in Week 2, and never undertook a qualifying simulation run. So there's definitely more than meets the eye - or the timesheet - when it comes to the outright speed of the Silver Arrows W09.
