On the final day of the first test of 2017, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen led the way at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
In what was meant to be a wet-weather test, the majority of meaningful running was done on slicks however it did give the teams a first opportunity to test the new intermediate and wet tyres.
The 2007 Formula 1 world champion ended the day on a 1m20.872s, eight-tenths clear of the rest of the field.
Max Verstappen completed 85 laps in the Red Bull RB13 and was the fastest driver to complete a lap on the intermediates during the morning session.
Like on Wednesday, Renault split running between its two drivers with Nico Hulkenberg taking the morning session and Jolyon Palmer returning for the afternoon. Palmer only managed 39 laps in the R.S.17 but was within a second of Raikkonen’s benchmark ending the day in third.
Haas continued its productive start to 2017 and was the only team to have completed over 100 laps. Romain Grosjean circulated 118 times on his way to fourth fastest.
2016 GP2 Series runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi was back in the Sauber in place of Pascal Wehrlein, who is expected to return for next week’s test in Barcelona. The Italian looked to be more comfortable in the C36 and was a solid fifth fastest ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
Valtteri Bottas completed 68 laps in the Mercedes after an electrical issue in the morning session meant Lewis Hamilton was unable to complete a single lap. The Finn was eighth on the timesheets ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
Felipe Massa did not complete a single lap after his team-mate Lance Stroll damaged the chassis of the FW40 yesterday while neither Toro Rosso driver completed a single flying lap after the team were forced to change its engine mid-way through the day.
After four days of productive testing, the teams will be back in action on March 7 for four more days on track in Barcelona.
