Barcelona F1 test day three
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We've got the latest on DAS from the FIA, as Michael Masi says he's satisfied that Mercedes innovative system is safe. 
Hamilton's first push lap on C5s is a mite scrappy, particularly in the third sector, and consequently he is nearly eight tenths off Bottas' pace.
Hamilton's back on track, with a set of C5 tyres.
Fun GP2 season, that was. Gasly missing a few golden opportunities to end his multi-year victory drought in the beginning, only to start winning and ultimately snatch the title from star rookie Giovinazzi in the Abu Dhabi finale, in what was their Prema team's debut campaign.
Hamilton's being wheeled back into the Mercedes pit garage now, leaving the track to former Prema GP2 team-mates Giovinazzi and Gasly, as well as Ricciardo.
Hamilton's Mercedes threatened to get away from him at T10 on that lap, but he kept it together. Still, only three tenths down after two sectors, he ends up a second adrift of Bottas at the start-finish line and doesn't improve his time.
Hamilton has gone out on track on C4 tyres, so we might get some more headline laptimes from the W11 shortly.
Vettel's done a sequence of four C3 laps after coming out of the pits - 18.743, 19.353, 19.815, 20.770. Again, unmistakably, the pace is tailing off more than for Ferrari's main rivals.
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With a little under two hours to go, here's the current total of laps completed, Antonio Giovinazzi continuing to pound around in the Alfa at the head of the charts.
1 Giovinazzi 121
2 Verstappen 86
3 Ocon 76
4 Sainz 76
5 Stroll 71
6 Bottas 65
7 Kvyat 62
8 Vettel 58
9 Grosjean 48
10 Ricciardo 49
11 Latifi 44
12 Gasly 37
13 Hamilton 30
14 Albon 29
15 Norris 22
16 Magnussen 4
1 Giovinazzi 121
2 Verstappen 86
3 Ocon 76
4 Sainz 76
5 Stroll 71
6 Bottas 65
7 Kvyat 62
8 Vettel 58
9 Grosjean 48
10 Ricciardo 49
11 Latifi 44
12 Gasly 37
13 Hamilton 30
14 Albon 29
15 Norris 22
16 Magnussen 4
We're into the latter half of the final session (of the first half of testing, but tssshhhhh).
Hamilton edges closer to Bottas with his latest effort on C3, a 1m16.642s. Say what you will about interpreting first-week test times and whatnot, but it is a fact only Mercedes has been in the sub-1m17s margin, and repeatedly so at that.
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An oft-forgotten fact about Marc Gene is his brother, Jordi, was considered a real prospect in the early '90s and won a Formula 3000 race at Silverstone in 1992 against the likes of Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard, only for his career to fizzle out. He became a staple of SEAT's World Touring Car Championship programme in the mid-2000s, but never reached the heights of his younger brother, who not only scored F1 points in a Minardi at the Nurburgring in 1999 but won Le Mans with Peugeot in 2009.
Mileage-wise, Giovinazzi - who appears to be on a proper race simulation right now - is the only driver in triple figures for laps. Renault and Red Bull are also over the 100-lap mark, and a few other teams should be joining them shortly.
The HRT from winter testing in 2012 - using the previous year's car, the little Spanish team turned out in a white scheme with little gold bits. This is Pedro de la Rosa's second appearance on our testing livery recaps.
Of course, our three intrepid testers (l-r) were Marc Gene, Luca Baoder and Alex Wurz. Gene might be seen more often wearing a Ferrari jacket at events than in a race-suit these days, but he was a well-regarded tester in the early 2000s, and even got the chance to fill in at Williams for an injured Ralf Schumacher at three races across the 2003-04 seasons. Here he is on track chasing fellow Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar in testing in 2002.
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Albon, running on C2s right now, has posted a personal-best time in the first sector on two successive laps, but has come up short of improving the overall laptime.
A bit of a lull in excitement on track right now, with Giovinazzi, Gasly, Ricciardo and Norris all circulating but all in the middle of what look to be some fairly high-fuel runs.
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While you ponder, here's some news on the DAS system from the Mercedes camp, as Bottas reveals its been in the works for a year and expresses doubts that rivals can copy it. Yikes. 
Five bonus points to anybody who can identify these three test drivers from Williams, Ferrari and McLaren in 2001. We'll give you a clue - two of them didn't host Ferrari's 2020 F1 car launch.
Norris and Hamilton form an orderly queue at the exit of the pitlane to do practice starts.
Not good news for Haas - that's the second day in a row that its running has been curtailed by an on-track incident. Will Gunther Steiner come up with another new swear-word to express his emotions?
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Haas confirms it is done for the day after Magnussen's crash. The Dane will conclude the third day of testing with four laps next to his name.
Presumably, one attendee at testing isn't a particular fan of Mercedes's DAS system. At least "cheater" is to style - after all, teams are singular entities.
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And Hamilton does improve overall, but only a little bit. Still, it's enough to overhaul Ocon by 0.011s.
Hamilton is back out and pushing again on the C3. He's done a personal best time in the first and second sector...
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Shield your eyes Ferrari fans, this is a pretty major admission from team principal Mattia Binotto. Pragmatic, yes, but painful nonetheless. 
We showed Red Bull's dazzle camo yesterday - here's the RB14's camo launch livery from 2018. Whether it counts as a test livery is up for debate, however...
Vettel's on a C3 run, and again his times seem to tail off a bit faster than those of the Mercedes runners. The sequence this time is 1m19.338s, 1m20.175s, 1m20.168s, 1m20.937s, 1m21.251s, 1m21.418s.
Hamilton improves to a 1m17.111s, and is now just 0.009s behind Ocon, whose lap time had come on a softer tyre.
Hamilton improves to third place - now on C3s - while Gasly moves up to ninth.
And replays show he's made a bit of a mess exiting Turn 13 and ran over the kerbing, so maybe that's the reason for the interruption in his long run.
The best of Norris's first handful of laps is a 1m23.550s, they were all about in the same ballpark. He's now back into the pits.
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Norris is the last driver to emerge from the pits today, doing so on a set of the C1 compound that seems to be very much in favour at McLaren this week.
Hamilton's done a couple of personal-best first sectors since his initial flyer, but hasn't completed another lap at full tilt yet - and he now returns to the pits.
Hamilton's first lap on C4s is a 1m18.198s. It featured a puff of smoke from the rear of the car that prompted an 'oof' in the media centre but has seemingly led to no other meaningful consequences.
Immediately, we get Vettel, Gasly, Giovinazzi and a C4-shod Hamilton heading out.
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Just as the session resumes, here are the current lap totals:
Verstappen 86
Giovinazzi 82
Ocon 76
Sainz 76
Bottas 65
Kvyat 62
Stroll 52
Grosjean 48
Vettel 45
Latifi 44
Ricciardo 9
Albon 5
Magnussen 4
Verstappen 86
Giovinazzi 82
Ocon 76
Sainz 76
Bottas 65
Kvyat 62
Stroll 52
Grosjean 48
Vettel 45
Latifi 44
Ricciardo 9
Albon 5
Magnussen 4
By: Geoff Creighton
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