Barcelona F1 test summary: Rosberg and Mercedes on top

The new-look Mercedes squad gave itself huge cause for optimism at Barcelona by ending Formula 1's final pre-season test of 2013 on top of the timesheets.

Team newcomer Lewis Hamilton - who claims to be loving life after leaving his former job in Woking for one in Brackley - set a blistering pace on Saturday, which was bettered by team-mate Nico Rosberg one day later.

Rosberg's 1m20.130s lap was set on the soft tyre and left him 0.3s clear of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and others claimed that the Mercedes performance could not be taken as conclusive proof of its pace due to the uncertainty over what fuel load the F1 WO4 was running.

Alonso's final-day time was good enough for second overall with Hamilton's Saturday pace securing him third, ahead of Felipe Massa and Jenson Button.

While the long-run pace of both Sauber and Force India on Sunday was fractionally adrift of what Button's McLaren managed, both also showed good single-lap pace with Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil in the top seven.

Lotus once again suffered reliability problems and also lost Kimi Raikkonen for a day due to illness. This allowed reserve driver Davide Valsecchi to share the E21 with Romain Grosjean - the Friday pacesetter - on Saturday.

Williams introduced Red Bull-style sidepods as part of a major aerodynamic upgrade, leaving Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas delighted with the extra downforce on offer.

Friday's big-news story meanwhile was the late-night arrival of Jules Bianchi at Marussia, Luiz Razia having lost his drive over a sponsor shortfall.

The team many expect to lift the winning constructors' trophy in two weeks' time, Red Bull, failed to show its hand, Mark Webber's pace-setting time on the opening day the only indicator of the RB9's true speed.

Combined times

Pos Driver                  Team            Time        Gap
 1. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes        1m20.130s
 2. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari         1m20.494s  + 0.364s
 3. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes        1m20.558s  + 0.428s
 4. Felipe Massa            Ferrari         1m21.266s  + 1.136s
 5. Jenson Button           McLaren         1m21.444s  + 1.314s
 6. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber          1m21.541s  + 1.411s
 7. Adrian Sutil            Force India     1m21.627s  + 1.497s
 8. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus           1m21.658s  + 1.528s
 9. Paul di Resta           Force India     1m21.664s  + 1.534s
10. Pastor Maldonado        Williams        1m22.305s  + 2.175s
11. Valtteri Bottas         Williams        1m22.468s  + 2.338s
12. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull        1m22.514s  + 2.384s
13. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber          1m22.553s  + 2.423s
14. Mark Webber             Red Bull        1m22.658s  + 2.528s
15. Sergio Perez            McLaren         1m22.694s  + 2.564s
16. Romain Grosjean         Lotus           1m22.716s  + 2.586s
17. Charles Pic             Caterham        1m23.115s  + 2.985s
18. Jules Bianchi           Marussia        1m23.167s  + 3.037s
19. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso      1m23.223s  + 3.093s
20. Davide Valsecchi        Lotus           1m23.448s  + 3.318s
21. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso      1m23.628s  + 3.498s
22. Max Chilton             Marussia        1m24.103s  + 3.973s
23. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham        1m24.235s  + 4.105s

Distance by driver

    Driver                  Team             Laps Kms
 1. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes         251  1168
 2. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes         230  1070
 3. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari          222  1033
 4. Felipe Massa            Ferrari          206  958 
 5. Max Chilton             Marussia         202  940 
 6. Sergio Perez            McLaren          201  935 
 7. Charles Pic             Caterham         199  926 
 8. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber           197  917 
 9. Jenson Button           McLaren          194  903 
10. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber           191  889 
11. Romain Grosjean         Lotus            186  865 
12. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham         174  809 
13. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso       173  805 
14. Adrian Sutil            Force India      171  796 
15. Paul Di Resta           Force India      169  786 
16. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull         165  768 
17. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso       152  707 
18. Pastor Maldonado        Williams         151  702 
19. Mark Webber             Red Bull         149  693 
20. Valtteri Bottas         Williams         147  684 
21. Jules Bianchi           Marussia         136  633 
22. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus            50   232 
23. Davide Valsecchi        Lotus            16   74  

Distance by team

    Team             Laps         Kms
 1. Mercedes         481          2239
 2. Ferrari          428          1992
 3. McLaren          395          1838
 4. Sauber           388          1806
 5. Caterham         373          1736
 6. Force India      340          1582
 7. Marussia         338          1573
 8. Toro Rosso       325          1512
 9. Red Bull         314          1461
10. Williams         298          1387
11. Lotus            252          1173