Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time of 2017 Formula 1 winter testing so far as Mercedes made use of Pirelli’s ultra-soft tyre in the morning session.
Bottas enjoyed a busy morning as former Mercedes and reigning F1 champion Nico Rosberg watched on in the garage. The Finn set fastest times on the soft, super-soft and ultra-soft tyres.
He could only improve by a tenth of a second when moving from the super-soft to the ultra-soft suggesting that there is more time in the W08 or simply the softest tyres could not deal with the high-speed and high loads experienced at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Lewis Hamilton returned to the cockpit in the afternoon session and focused mainly on longer runs. The 32-year-old ended the day in seventh place, 2.385s off the pace set by his team-mate.
Sebastian Vettel continued to impress in the Ferrari SF70-H racking up 139 laps and ending the day as the closest man to Bottas’ benchmark. Once again, Ferrari opted to use the medium and soft tyres throughout the day and was within a couple of tenths of the fastest time set by Bottas albeit on the much slower, soft tyre.
The German did cause the final red flag of the session, stopping on the start-finish straight.
Daniel Ricciardo was next up in third place. The Australian enjoyed a smoother day compared to day one of testing where he suffered various mechanical issues. He managed to complete 70 laps and ended the day 1.448s off the pace set by Bottas.
Renault split its programme between both of its drivers with Jolyon Palmer taking the morning session. Palmer caused the only red flag of the morning, spinning into the gravel at Turn 3. The two Renaults were split by just three-tenths in fourth and fifth respectively.
Sauber showed better pace with Marcus Ericsson back in the C36. The Swede completed 125 laps and was just over two seconds off the pace, setting his best time on the super-soft.
Haas continued to enjoy a productive and solid pre-season testing campaign as Romain Grosjean got his first outing in the VF-17. Grosjean ended the day eighth fastest completing just 56 laps.
Lance Stroll made up for lost running on Tuesday and circulated 98 times. The 18-year-old spun three times and damaged the front end of the FW40 heavily with one hour on the clock to go.
McLaren beat its own total of most laps completed in one day with 72 in the hands of Fernando Alonso. Alonso spent most of the morning completing data-gathering exercises with lap times not being the team’s priority.
Alfonso Celis Jr. had a quiet day in the VJM10, ending the day in 12th splitting the Toro Rosso duo. Carlos Sainz caused a brief stoppage after spinning at Turn 4 while Daniil Kvyat only managed 31 laps in the morning session.
