Bahrain third 2014 test Test day four
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Looks as though STRAW is on the money there, as Gutierrez posts his fastest lap of the afternoon and moves up to eighth on the leader board.
EDD STRAW reports that Gutierrez is warming a set of soft Pirellis on his Sauber. "Maybe a qualifying sim coming?"
Twitter
We'll probably see some long runs from most of the teams early this afternoon. That's certainly the plan for Force India.
@clubforce: "The long runs have indeed started in earnest - the Hulk is out on what is currently a 9-lap run, #FeelTheForce"
@clubforce: "The long runs have indeed started in earnest - the Hulk is out on what is currently a 9-lap run, #FeelTheForce"
Gutierrez works his way down into the 1m39s, but he's still a quarter of a second shy of displacing Vettel's motionless Red Bull from the top 10.
Hamilton moves the Mercedes up into the top six with that last effort. He's clocked 12 laps now and is into the 1m37s.
Nico Hulkenberg
Time for a reader question now, courtesy of Bhupendra Rawat, who asks: Where do you see Force India in the current pecking order? Are they a top-three team? And who is better between Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez?
EDD STRAW: "Force India will certainly be thereabouts. It has the engine of choice in the Mercedes and has shown decent, if not stellar, pace during testing. So you'd expect it to be well-placed for a big haul of points in Australia.
"As for Hulkenberg v Perez, I'd have to say Nico. He is a top-team calibre driver in a midfield team and has shown time and again how good he is. Perez had a troubled time at McLaren last year, but has ability and I suspect he will have learned a hell of a lot from his chastening experiences last season."
Gutierrez gets off the mark with a 1m40.8s lap. That puts him 11th ahead of Chilton's Marussia, which has only done 10 laps so far because of electrical problems.
We should have 12 drivers on the timesheet today, as Esteban Gutierrez takes over the Sauber from Adrian Sutil. The Mexican has just headed out for his first lap.
Hamilton and Kobayashi aren't hanging around. They head straight back out following the resumption.
Green flag
Green again here in Bahrain, now the stricken McLaren is safely back in the pits.
The recovery truck has headed for the pits with its cargo so we should be back underway shortly.
Twitter
Force India has enjoyed a strong final test so far. Hulkenberg will be doing long runs this afternoon, similar to yesterday.
@clubforce: "No action yet for us in the afternoon session, which is currently red flagged. Plan for the rest of the day includes long runs #FeelTheForce"
@clubforce: "No action yet for us in the afternoon session, which is currently red flagged. Plan for the rest of the day includes long runs #FeelTheForce"
The McLaren has been hoisted onto the back of the flatbed by the crane and the course car has driven off.
The recovery crews have headed to the inside of the left-hander, where Button has parked the MP4-29.
Hamilton brings the Mercedes safely back to the pits. The McLaren has stopped at the end of the back straight.
Red flag
Barely eight minutes have passed and already we have a red flag. Hamilton and Jenson Button's McLaren were the two cars on-track.
Sebastian Vettel
'Vettel-clothing-watch' has become a feature of the winter tests, not because AUTOSPORT thinks the world champion's threads are especially suave, but because Vettel is pretty quick to wander around the paddock in his civvies if he thinks the car will be out of action for a long while.
This shot from recent minutes does not bode well for Red Bull track time...
Keen to make up for his massively delayed start, Hamilton is the first to break the silence in the Mercedes.
Green flag
Lunchtime is over here in Bahrain. The track is live again. But it looks as though the teams are still digesting their food. No cars on-track yet...
The reason this winter has been so fascinating for F1 is of course the enormous technical rule changes.
We've already explored their specifics in detail in CRAIG SCARBOROUGH's series of features, and this week we've been taking a look at the ethos behind them and the political journey that brought us here.
ADAM COOPER tracked the gestation of the 2014 rules from the first murmurs of an eco push for F1 10 years ago, including details of some even further-reaching plans that didn't come to fruition:
F1's road to 2014
We've also had an exclusive sit down with FIA president JEAN TODT, who chatted to DIETER RENCKEN about his views on F1 and motorsport's current status, and what needs to be done next:
Exclusive Todt Q&A
We've already explored their specifics in detail in CRAIG SCARBOROUGH's series of features, and this week we've been taking a look at the ethos behind them and the political journey that brought us here.
ADAM COOPER tracked the gestation of the 2014 rules from the first murmurs of an eco push for F1 10 years ago, including details of some even further-reaching plans that didn't come to fruition:
F1's road to 2014
We've also had an exclusive sit down with FIA president JEAN TODT, who chatted to DIETER RENCKEN about his views on F1 and motorsport's current status, and what needs to be done next:
Exclusive Todt Q&A
Beyond F1, the rest of the motorsport season is ramping up.
We've had three spectacular V8 Supercars races from Adelaide this weekend, the last of which featured a brilliant last-lap lead battle and a terrifying aerial accident.
Read about it - and watch video highlights - here:
Adelaide V8 Supercars race three report
Coming up later today is round two of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup from Phoenix. AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live will be covering it as it happens from 8pm UK time.
We've had three spectacular V8 Supercars races from Adelaide this weekend, the last of which featured a brilliant last-lap lead battle and a terrifying aerial accident.
Read about it - and watch video highlights - here:
Adelaide V8 Supercars race three report
Coming up later today is round two of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup from Phoenix. AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live will be covering it as it happens from 8pm UK time.
When the green light comes back on in a quarter of an hour, there will be just four hours' running left for teams before practice in Melbourne - and many of them will have massive jobs lists for those 240 minutes.
On Friday, GLENN FREEMAN investigated how ready various teams are with their race preparations, and assessed what a 'race sim' actually means at this stage:
Who is most ready for Melbourne?
On Friday, GLENN FREEMAN investigated how ready various teams are with their race preparations, and assessed what a 'race sim' actually means at this stage:
Who is most ready for Melbourne?
Our F1 editor EDD STRAW is going to answer some of your questions this afternoon, so if you've got any puzzles you're eager to put to him, email live@autosport.com or ask using #autosport on Twitter.
Breaking news
Valtteri Bottas
Story of Sunday so far is Williams versus Ferrari up front, but problems for Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus.
Here's our full summary of the opening hours today, including results so far and the current lap count:
Sunday morning report
Checkered flag
That stoppage brings an early halt to the morning session. That's lunch!
The Frenchman will be getting used to getting picked up by recovery crew there. That's same place the E22 gave up on him for the final time yesterday afternoon.
Red flag
Grosjean stops the Lotus on the inside of the back straight, bringing out the second red flag of the day.
Hamilton back into the pits now after a short five-lap run. Vergne has gone back out in the Toro Rosso as Hulkenberg takes the honour of being the fastest man on the track at present. Only in the 1m43s though.
Hamilton gets off the mark with a 1m38.6s lap, which puts him straight into seventh on the leader board.
The Red Bull is in the garage with the engine cover off. No one is working on the car at present.
Lewis Hamilton finally ventures out in the Mercedes following the lengthy delay caused by that gearbox problem. There's less than 20 minutes to go until the lunchbreak.
Pacesetter Bottas is lapping two tenths quicker at the moment with Sutil, Kobayashi and Hulkenberg also circulating.
Grosjean has gone back out on soft tyres in the Lotus. His first flier is a 1m39.5s so not quite an improvement.
The Toro Rosso is back in the pits and being backed into the garage as Bottas does a practice start and takes the Williams back out.
Red Bull
Something that's becoming a familiar picture for Red Bull fans during F1's winter - this was the scene a few minutes ago as Vettel's car was retrieved from Turn 1.
With less than half an hour to go before he hands the car over to Gutierrez, Sutil's pitboard reads 'L21' and is counting down.
Force India team boss Vijay Mallya arrived at the Sakhir circuit this morning. He's currently on the pitwall, chatting to deputy team principal Bob Fernley and technical director Andrew Green.
Sauber has just carried out a live pitstop (replacing softs with super-softs). Sutil has 75 laps on the board already today, so race work has clearly been the order of the day.
Bottas stops short of the Williams pit to give himself room to perform a mini practice start. The team then rolls the FW36 back into the garage.
The Force India is now in the pits, where EDD STRAW has spotted the team taking a wheel off and putting it back on (front left), and now some work going on underneath the VJM07.
By: Matt Beer, Glenn Freeman, Ben Anderson, Dan Cross
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