F1 testing – Hamilton passes between the drops

As the weather forecast predicted, the weather was cold and rainy this morning in Barcelona. Although the track was dry at the start of the session, rain arrived during the first hour, forcing the drivers to put on grooved tires. The teams were nevertheless able to work with the slicks when the track dried and the times began to improve. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest of the morning with a time of 1’23”282 ahead of Jenson Button and Jean-Eric Vergne, the only drivers in the same second as the Mercedes W04. Despite an exit from the track without consequences for the pilot Toro Rosso, the Frenchman was able to complete almost 40 laps.

There were numerous interruptions since the red flag was raised five times this morning. With the track exits, Giedo van der Garde and Mark Webber were the only ones to stop due to a mechanical problem or running out of fuel. Esteban Gutiérrez places himself in fourth position, already almost two seconds behind the reference time of the day, while Jules Bianchi completes the top five. Giedo van der Garde is sixth after causing two interruptions, the Caterham driver also being trapped by the humidity of the track. Felipe Massa, who was the first to improve the times when the track dried, was finally seventh, more than four seconds ahead of Mark Webber. Max Chilton and Romain Grosjean complete the top ten ahead Valtteri Bottas who did not complete a timed lap despite completing 23 loops.

Mid-day results – Day 4 Barcelona

1/ Lewis Hamilton? Mercedes? 1'23"282? 44 rounds
2/ Jenson Button? McLaren ? 1'23 »633 (+0 »351)? 31 rounds
3/ Jean-Eric Vergne? Toro Rosso? 1’24”071 – (+0”789)? 37 rounds
4/ Esteban Gutiérrez? Sauber? 1'25"239 (+1"957)? 25 rounds
5/ Jules Bianchi? Force India? 1'25"732 (+2"450)? 51 rounds
6/ Giedo van der Garde? Caterham? 1’27”429 (+4”147)? 22 rounds
7/ Felipe Massa? Ferrari ? 1'27 »563 (+4 »281)? 47 rounds
8/ Mark Webber? Red Bull ? 1'27 »616 (+4 »334)? 34 rounds
9/ Max Chilton? Marussia? 1'29"902 (+6"620)? 21 rounds
10/ Romain Grosjean? Lotus- 1’34”800 (+11”518)? 19 rounds
11/ Bottas? Williams ? 23 rounds