Vettel quickest on penultimate day of F1 testing
Sebastian Vettel ended the penultimate day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Barcelona quickest for Ferrari as his new track record from the morning session went unbeaten through the afternoon.
Vettel blitzed Daniel Ricciardo's previous benchmark from Wednesday with a fastest time of 1:17.182 in the morning on the hypersoft tyre, with the lap going unbeaten through the afternoon as the majority of teams focused on long-run pace.
Sebastian Vettel ended the penultimate day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Barcelona quickest for Ferrari as his new track record from the morning session went unbeaten through the afternoon.
Vettel blitzed Daniel Ricciardo's previous benchmark from Wednesday with a fastest time of 1:17.182 in the morning on the hypersoft tyre, with the lap going unbeaten through the afternoon as the majority of teams focused on long-run pace.
Vettel himself completed a race simulation through the afternoon, ending the day with 185 laps to his name in his last run-out before opening practice for the Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen will take over for Friday's final pre-season running.
Kevin Magnussen finished an impressive second for Haas, lapping 1.1 seconds off Vettel's time on the supersoft compound tyre. Pierre Gasly rose to third for Toro Rosso-Honda late in the day, finishing just three-thousandths of a second back from Magnussen on the hypersoft tyre.
Nico Hulkenberg's effort from the morning session on the hypersoft tyre was good enough for P4 in the Renault. The German handed over to teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. for the afternoon, who finished the day fifth, 0.050 seconds behind.
McLaren enjoyed its most productive day of the second test week as Stoffel Vandoorne finished sixth with 148 laps on the board, despite losing two hours in the morning as the team completed various data checks. Marcus Ericsson wound up seventh for Sauber, but brought out the only red flag of the day with a little over one hour to run when he spun off at Turn 4.
Mercedes opted to focus on long runs with both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, who featured in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively. Hamilton took P8 overall, two seconds back from Vettel, with Bottas just behind in P9.
Robert Kubica completed the top 10 after running in the morning for Williams. Lance Stroll took over in the FW41 for the afternoon, propping up the timesheets in P13. Force India's Sergio Perez was 11th, with Max Verstappen ending the day 12th for Red Bull after focusing entirely on long runs through the day.
