Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets on the penultimate day of winter testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The four-time Formula 1 champion set the fastest time of winter testing so far in the morning session with a 1m19.024s on ultra-softs despite some sandbagging from the German, lifting in the final sector.
The majority of the teams focused on heavy fuel running in the afternoon which meant no one could better the German’s lap.
Lewis Hamilton was three-tenths off Vettel’s benchmark in second place. Hamilton circulated 52 times in the morning.
Esteban Ocon enjoyed another very productive day in the VJM10 completing 137 laps in total and ending the day 1.137s off Vettel’s time. Daniil Kvyat was fourth for Toro Rosso ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull – both completed over 100 laps.
Once again it was a difficult day for McLaren-Honda who suffered two electrical issues which meant Stoffel Vandoorne could only complete 47 laps.
Valtteri Bottas returned to the W08 in the afternoon but focused on longer runs ending the day in eighth ahead of Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein and Renault’s Jolyon Palmer.
Both Williams drivers ended the day at the bottom of the timesheets but focused on race simulations and did not complete any performance runs.
