Barcelona F1 test: Fernando Alonso crash ends morning running

Alonso went into the inside wall on the run between Turns 3 and 4 during McLaren's strongest run of the session.

He had missed the first two hours as Honda configured its engine following the overnight arrival of the new MGU-K seal design intended to fix the problem that had limited running through the week so far.

Once on track, Alonso progressed up to fifth place on medium tyres before going off on his 21st lap of the day.

An ambulance attended the scene of the accident, but the circuit reported that Alonso was "OK and conscious".

His countryman Sainz used the super-soft Pirellis to set his benchmark time, during a series of short, qualifying-style runs.

But the Toro Rosso driver's 1m25.604s were barely any faster than a soft-tyre lap that had initially thrust him to the top.

Sebastian Vettel was second for Ferrari on soft tyres, lapping seven tenths slower than Sainz.

Nico Hulkenberg completed a trio of drivers on the softer tyre in third in the 2014 Force India.

Mercedes stuck to medium tyres, with Nico Rosberg topping the lap tally on 58 on his way to fourth place, 1.1s behind Sainz.

Rosberg had begun the morning with a spin into the Turn 5 gravel on an early run on cold tyres, but he was swiftly back in action once the Mercedes was retrieved and cleaned up.

Romain Grosjean's Lotus, Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas's Williams were all within 0.2s of Alonso's McLaren as the quartet took fifth to eighth on mediums.

Sauber was unable to set a time, reporting "general issues" with its car after Felipe Nasr parked in the pit entry three laps into his day.

DAY FOUR MORNING TIMES