Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Barcelona F1 test: Valtteri Bottas leads final morning for Williams

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas topped the final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona, as McLaren only managed two laps

Like his team-mate Felipe Massa a day earlier, Bottas completed a qualifying simulation on super-soft tyres before lunch, recording a time of 1m23.063s.

The lap was two-tenths faster than Massa's effort but still 0.041 seconds slower than Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton went on softs on Saturday afternoon.

McLaren endured another disastrous session with the Australian Grand Prix looming large.

An hour into the day, the team confirmed it was undertaking "system checks", and a sensor problem eventually required the removal of the Honda engine before Jenson Button could emerge five minutes before the break.

There was trouble for Red Bull, too, with Daniel Ricciardo turning only 10 laps due to an ERS problem that caused the Australian to stop at the end of pitlane and prompted the morning's only red flag.

The top four drivers all set their times on the super-softs, with Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Nasr and Sergio Perez doing so in the hour before lunch.

Nasr was the busiest driver of the morning, completing 73 laps in his Sauber, while Perez turned 54 to continue Force India's reliable run since rolling out its new car on Friday morning.

Nico Rosberg ended the morning an unfamiliar fifth, having focused on medium and hard compound programmes, including longer runs.

MORNING TIMES:

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m 23.063s - 45
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m 23.469s 0.406s 52
3 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m 24.023s 0.960s 72
4 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m 25.113s 2.050s 54
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m 25.186s 2.123s 69
6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m 26.267s 3.204s 49
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m 26.587s 3.524s 10
8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m 28.272s 5.209s 35
9 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda - - 2

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Force India F1 team appeals to Bernie Ecclestone for financial help
Next article Barcelona F1 test: Valtteri Bottas keeps Williams on top

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe