February 19, 2015 – Pastor Maldonado set the pace for his Lotus team on the first day of Formula 1 winter testing in Barcelona today in a session that was interrupted by an accident between Felipe Nasr and Susie Wolff.
The Williams and Sauber collided early in the afternoon session, when Wolff was on an out-lap and morning pacesetter Nasr was at full speed. Contact between the Williams’s left front and Sauber’s right-rear sent Nasr into the Turn 5 barriers, with Wolff also coming to rest in the gravel.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen lead early on in the session, setting a 1m25.167s laptime on mediums tyres, with Ricciardo coming 0.380 seconds close, but it was Lotus’ Maldonado who eventually rose to the top of the timesheets, clocking a 1m25.011s on softs.
Mercedes had to replace Lewis Hamilton with reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein as the former felt ill. Wehrlein managed 48 laps for the team, and 32 laps for Force India who had him on loan before Sergio Perez eventually took over.
Despite some encouraging signs with 21 laps for Jenson Button, McLaren’s day came to an early end due to an engine failure.
