Lewis Hamilton goes quicker than Max Verstappen on Day 1 of F1 testing 2022

With the first preseason test underway in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton clocked a quicker lap time than Max Verstappen. McLaren driver Lando Norris topped the timesheets on the first day of the preseason test overall. His fastest lap around the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo was clocked at 1 minute 19.951 seconds.

Norris was followed by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who clocked the second-fastest time. However, Monegasque was the quickest in the morning session, while the Briton edged him out by half a second in the afternoon session. The Maranello driver and Woking driver logged 103 and 80 laps, respectively.

Among the two 2021 championship protagonists, Max Verstappen completed 147 laps, and focussed on the long runs in the afternoon session. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton completed only 50 laps in the Mercedes W13, and was only fifth-fastest on the timesheets.

Although the Briton was almost a second quicker than Verstappen, Mercedes split the day's run between their two drivers. Meanwhile, Red Bull focussed on getting the reigning champion to rack up as much mileage as possible in the RB18.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz clocked the third-fastest time of the day, completing a total of 80 laps. Mercedes driver George Russell, who drove the W13 in the morning, clocked the fourth-fastest time, completing a total of 77 laps.

The two Ferrari drivers combined had the highest tally of the day in terms of number of laps by a team. The mileage racked by Verstappen alone was enough to make a difference, as he posted the most in the day for a single driver.

Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel logged a total of 52 laps, and clocked the sixth fastest time. Meanwhile, his teammate Lance Stroll logged 67 laps, but was in the bottom five of the timesheets.

Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda logged a total of 127 laps, and was quicker than his counterpart in the sister team Red Bull, who was ninth-fastest. Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas was the final driver to round off the top ten of the grid, and logged a total of 23 laps for his team.

The first day of the preseason test involved drivers getting an understanding of their new cars and acclimatizing to their new offices. However, the Ferrari duo, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stood out of the pack with their team's innovative car designs and mileage.

The second day of testing should have more representative times to get a clearer idea of the pecking order.

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What is the difference between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's car?

Dazn Espana analyst Albert Fabrega has posted a top view of the Mercedes and Red Bull cars to highlight their differences.

The difference is significant, with Red Bull preferring symmetry on their sidepods compared to Mercedes' curvature in the packing on the sides. The Milton Keynes squad has opted for a more radical design compared to Mercedes, who have opted for a slightly simpler design on their sidepods.

The Silver Arrows squad tried two versions of the sidepods on their car. The one driven by Russell did not feature any openings on the sidepods, but the one driven by Hamilton had vents on the sidepod.

Considering the different designs of Mercedes' W13 and Red Bull's RB18, the cars can be expected to be a lot different in the second test in Bahrain. Both race-spec versions could be drastically different from their launch and test versions. Therefore, one can expect a lot of changes to the cars by the time Hamilton and Verstappen compete against each other again in the first race in Bahrain.