Bahrain third 2014 test Test day four
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@Marussia_F1Team: "14 days until the Australian GP & we're in a racing state of mind as we work through various race weekend procedures during our programme."
Sutil shaves another four tenths off his best time as the Sauber's qualifying simulation continues.
Williams reports that Bottas will work through a "pretty similar" programme to Massa's yesterday. The Brazilian set the fastest lap around the Sakhir circuit so far in pre-season with a low-fuel run, so expect some similar late-session antics from Bottas today.
A good number of upgrades have appeared on the Ferrari F14 T for this test, including some ideas that our tech expert CRAIG SCARBOROUGH reckons haven't been seen since 2009.
Here's his round-up of the teams' developments this week:
Final test tech round-up
Here's his round-up of the teams' developments this week:
Final test tech round-up
Alonso is back in the pits now as Bottas starts going quickly, The timing screens confusingly show the Finn going fastest of all in all three sectors, but his final lap time keeps him second, now just half a tenth behind the Ferrari.
Breaking news
Bahrain GP 2006
A bit of news from Bahrain this morning: the first corner here at the Sakhir circuit has been renamed in honour of Michael Schumacher, with the blessing of the seven-time world champion's family as he continues his recovery from a skiing accident at the end of last year.
For the full story click here.
The Spaniard is the only man on-track at the moment as he follows that timesheet-topping effort with a cool-down lap.
Stopwatch
Alonso takes to the track in the Ferrari and pumps in the fastest time of the day so far.
Twitter
The team reports Sutil is on a qualifying simulation at the moment.
@OfficialSF1Team: "#SuperSutil finishing a quali simulation, box box, pit stop practice and mini launch. 26 laps in the bag so far. #pushpush"
@OfficialSF1Team: "#SuperSutil finishing a quali simulation, box box, pit stop practice and mini launch. 26 laps in the bag so far. #pushpush"
Sutil will be determined to make the most of his extra morning in the C33, following yesterday's disaster for Sauber. He's into the 1m36s now after that last lap.
Grosjean's had a half-hour break in the pits but the Lotus is back out now and gets on the board for the first time today.
The Frenchman improves straight away, knocking two tenths off his best time so far.
Vergne heads back out in the Toro Rosso after just over 20 minutes in the pits. He joins Bottas, Kobayashi and Vettel on circuit.
Vettel does a personal best in the first sector, but crosses the line in 1m40.001s so doesn't improve.
Kobayashi puts in his quickest lap of the Sakhir circuit so far. A 1m38 lifts him from eighth to sixth in the Caterham.
Vettel improves on that lap, putting him into the 1m39s for the first time. Progress for the four-time world champion.
Sutil moves up to third, while ahead of him Alonso finds another seven tenths in the Ferrari.
Right on cue, Vettel heads back out to end the silence on track.
Sebastian Vettel, flo-vis
Signs from our photographers that Red Bull was straight into aero work when Vettel got going, with plenty of flo-vis paint on the RB10 this morning.
The feeling in the pitlane, both inside Red Bull and among its rivals, is that the champion team's car has plenty of potential once it can run reliably enough to make up for all the time lost.
Bottas's next lap is a respectable 1m38.7s, and then he pits to leave the track empty.
Breaking news
The vibes from the E22 are good news for Lotus given that Grosjean was - not for the first time this winter - pretty gloomy last night:
Grosjean: Lotus won't be fully ready for Melbourne
Grosjean: Lotus won't be fully ready for Melbourne
Twitter
Here's why we haven't seen the Mercedes so far this morning:
@MercedesAMGF1: "Sunday morning lie-in for the #F1 W05 as it nurses a gearbox headache. We've all been there... #QuietPlease #CloseTheBlinds #W05sup"
@MercedesAMGF1: "Sunday morning lie-in for the #F1 W05 as it nurses a gearbox headache. We've all been there... #QuietPlease #CloseTheBlinds #W05sup"
Grosjean only has two laps to his name, but Lotus reports that he feels "better already" with the E22.
Bottas pops in a 1m36.9s, which is still faster than anyone else has managed so far today.
Stopwatch
Two more best sectors from Bottas next time around are enough for him to shave another 0.3s from his best.
Sutil also improves in the Sauber, but stays fifth.
Sutil also improves in the Sauber, but stays fifth.
Bottas opens his latest run with a fastest time through the first sector, but he backs off over the rest of the lap to end up seven seconds shy of his current benchmark.
The E22 doesn't come in at the end of that opening lap, but Grosjean pits after his second tour so we won't be seeing a laptime from the Lotus just yet.
Grosjean takes the Lotus out of the pits for the first time today.
Having backed off, Alonso goes for it again and his second flying lap of this run is just 0.1s shy of his current best.
Vergne sets a first laptime in the Toro Rosso for today to go sixth.
Alonso's first flying lap puts him second, while Sutil finds 1.5 seconds in the Sauber.
Quote
Sebastian Vettel
Vettel is slightly slower on his next lap. Speaking last night, Renault head of track operations Remi Taffin predicted big mileage for Red Bull today after Saturday's disaster.
"Saturday should have been a 100-lap day [for Red Bull]. It's simple for me to say that but definitely we woke up with this in mind. This day was sort of a nightmare but this happens and I prefer it happens here than in Melbourne.
"I'm not saying [Red Bull will] do 100 laps, because if the programme is 80 we will do this. But there is no reason why we could not."
As Chilton pits, the RB10 is the only car on track at the moment, with five laps in the books.
The world champion's first flying lap of this test is a 1m40.0s.
Vettel has re-appeared, and this time he stays out at the end of the lap, so perhaps we will see a time from the RB10 - which looked reasonable pace-wise in the hands of Daniel Ricciardo earlier this week when it was able to run reliably.
Chilton posts the Marussia's first time of the day.
The next hot lap from the Finn is a 1m38.2s.
After those two quick laps, Bottas backs off to a 1m51s. That's pretty close to the 'standard' cool-off laptime we've been seeing across these two tests here in Bahrain.
Stopwatch
Bottas goes even faster on the next lap with a 1m36.5s in the FW36. That puts him 1.5s clear of Button now.
Stopwatch
Button pushes again and goes even faster, down to a 1m38.1s now.
His time at the top is short-lived though as Bottas is the first man to break into the 1m37s today.
We've also had a first timed lap from Kobayashi in the Caterham.
His time at the top is short-lived though as Bottas is the first man to break into the 1m37s today.
We've also had a first timed lap from Kobayashi in the Caterham.
The next lap around for the McLaren is a cool-off lap, 12s down on Button's pace-setting time. Sutil is still going, and he's making minor improvements on every lap at the moment.
By: Matt Beer, Glenn Freeman, Ben Anderson, Dan Cross
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