Formula One pre-season testing report: day four in Barcelona

Racing Post Sport will be rounding up the action on each of the eight days of F1 2019 pre-season testing at Barcelona as the countdown to the first race gets serious.

Day four highlights

Nico Hulkenberg topped the times for Renault on the final day of the first week of F1 pre-season testing at Barcelona, edging out the Toro Rosso of Alex Albon, but Ferrari and Mercedes still look like the teams to beat.

Mercedes finally broke cover after three days of slouching around at the bottom of the times, doing long runs on hard tyres, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton ending the day fourth and fifth.

Ferrari still seem to have the edge according to most observers, though, and Charles Leclerc was within a tenth of Hamilton's best time despite using a harder tyre.

Fastest lap times

1 N Hulkenberg (Renault) 1.17.393
2 A Albon (Toro Rosso) 1.17.637
3 D Ricciardo (Renault) 1.17.785
4 V Bottas (Mercedes) 1.17.857
5 L Hamilton (Mercedes) 1.17.977
6 C Leclerc (Ferrari) 1.18.046
7 L Norris (McLaren) 1.18.431
8 A Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1.18.511
9 R Grosjean (Haas) 1.18.563
10 K Magnussen (Haas) 1.18.720
11 P Gasly (Red Bull) 1.18.780
12 L Stroll (Racing Point) 1.19.664
13 G Russell (Williams) 1.20.997
14 R Kubica (Williams) 1.21.542

• The 2019 F1 field is unveiled - team profiles

Market moves

Bookmakers are increasingly convinced that Ferrari are the real deal and after a fourth promising day for the Italian team their drivers continue to shorten.

Sebastian Vettel wasn't in action on Thursday and his best price was stable at 11-4, but several firms trimmed his odds with Betfred, who went 7-2 earlier in the week, now going just 9-4.

Red Bull have not been as impressive this week and Sky Bet eased Max Verstappen from 6-1 to 8-1.

Latest title betting (best prices)

19-20 L Hamilton, 11-4 S Vettel, 8 M Verstappen, 9 C Leclerc, 20 V Bottas, 40 bar.

What we learned

Any fears that Mercedes weren't sandbagging for the first three days and actually might be struggling were allayed by the step forward they took on Friday, even though they are likely to still have plenty up their sleeve.

Even so, it's becoming an established opinion that Ferrari are at least close to them in terms of performance and could even be in front.

A pleasing aspect of the first week of testing has been the promising performances of a number of the midfield teams, with Renault, Toro Rosso, Haas and Alfa Romeo in particular putting in some fast times that suggest they are at least a threat to Red Bull for third place, while McLaren's first week has been a vast improvement on their 2018 preparations.

The teams reconvene in Barcelona on Monday for the final four days of tests before the season-opener in Melbourne on March 17.

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