Hamilton and Mercedes finish first

Lewis Hamilton was productive this afternoon in Barcelona (Spain) where he replaced his teammate Valtteri Bottas on Mercedes W08. The three-time world champion set the reference time of the day with a time of 1’21”765 and having completed 73 laps. This is already more than 2 tenths better than his pole position achieved last year (1’22”000). The Silver Arrow completed a total of 152 laps, 24 more than the Ferrari SF70H.

Sebastian Vettel was the most diligent on the track and also the closest to the reference, failing by a tenth while his best time was achieved on medium tires. The German finished two tenths ahead of the Williams FW40 of Felipe Massa who was the only other driver to reach the 100 lap mark.

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) recovered well from his slight exit from the track in the morning to set the 4th fastest time ahead of the Red Bull RB13 Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian's day was disrupted by battery issues which followed the morning's sensor problems. Valtteri Bottas finally finished 6th of the day after giving way to Lewis Hamilton in the second part of the day.

Sergio Pérez (Force India) finished 7th and was unable to complete the 40 laps, due to a problem with the exhausts. The Mexican precedes the Toro Rosso STR12 Carlos Sainz Jr and the Renault RS 17 Nico Hulkenberg who set their best times on medium tires.

After an oil leak this morning requiring replacement of the Honda Power Unit, Fernando Alonso was still able to cover 29 laps aboard the McLaren MCL32 which was the least seen on the track. The Asturian is only ahead of the Sauber C36 of Marcus Ericsson.

Photos from Barcelona F1 testing