F1 Barcelona pre-season test - Day 3
Minute by minute updates on the final day of the 2022 Barcelona F1 pre-season test
After a busy opening couple of days, all 10 teams complete the first test of the new era of F1 under the new technical regulations.
Track action gets underway at 8am GMT and finishes at 5pm GMT. The day will be split by a one-hour lunch break (12pm-1pm GMT) which can be reduced if requested due to lost track time from either red flags or poor weather conditions.
The final day will provide another good look at all of the 2022 F1 cars from every team, to see which teams have got it right and which have work to do. While never fully taken as the true pecking order, due to teams hiding outright performance levels by sandbagging their speeds, the tests still reveal an overview while giving teams which are struggling nowhere to hide.
The Barcelona shakedown test, conducted without live TV coverage or live timing, runs between 23-25 February. A second official test will follow in Bahrain on 10-12 March ahead of the 2022 F1 season opener at the same venue, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on 18-20 March.
Live Text
Sort by
Oldest first
Twitter
New Alfa Romeo recruit Valtteri Bottas has emerged from the garage, looking to get some running in after a few issues plagued Guanyu Zhou late on in this morning's sesh.
Stopwatch
Straight out of the gate, Bottas has fired in a couple of quick laps on the intermediate tyre - with a 1m33.756s his latest effort. Perez then posts a 1m32.677s to go quickest of the post-lunch laps.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m30.952s for Sainz now, as the track is visibly drier.
Tick tock, it's slick o'clock! Bottas has been reported to have bolted on C3 tyres. Let the fun commence.
Immediately, Bottas posts a 1m30.433s to suggest that it's very much possible to stick to the track on slicks.
Hamilton returns to the pits, taking on a set of used C5 tyres as the mechanic at the front of the car adds a little bit of front wing. He hence returns to the circuit to play with a greasy track.
Twitter
Scratch that; Hamillton pits next time around, and the engineers stick on a very used set of intermediates before switching the engine off. Hamilton takes his gloves off, twiddles his thumbs, and gets pulled back into the garage.
Stopwatch
And we're back to normal; Sainz posts a 1m24.476s on C4 slicks to move up to P11 in the times - ahead of Mazepin. No further running for Haas today, so they only have the nine laps of mileage from the final day.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m29.497s for Ricciardo, who's switched to the C3 tyres now. Sainz looked on course for a personal best, but seemingly backed out of his lap.
Stopwatch
Further improvements: Sainz now sits on a 1m22.311s to move up to ninth, as Ricciardo brings his time down to a 1m24.896s.
Hamilton does his first proper lap on slicks - a 1m26.674s on used C5s, before logging a 1m24.795s. Sainz meanwhile gets close to Zhou's morning time with a 1m21.967s.
Sainz has chipped another 0.2s out of his best time, moving up to P8 with a 1m21.776s. Perez is also back out, setting a personal best of 1m27.938s on what looked like C2s.
Stopwatch
They are indeed C2 tyres on Perez's RB18, and he brings his time down to a 1m23.525s. Albon and Sainz are out on C4s, Hamilton now on C3s - and Albon fires in a 1m20.847s for his best lap of the day - going P7.
Stopwatch
Perez now continues to bring the times down to a 1m21.921s, lifting him up to P10 above Zhou.
Albon continues his rise through the order and posts a 1m20.318s - which elevates him to fifth overall and above team-mate Latifi. A 5-6 for Williams thus far.
"Out of Turn 5, we see the Williams is puffing faint trails of blue smoke. Could be the early signs of a problem, but equally could be nothing..."
Perez leapfrogs Sainz in the overall timings, moving up to P9 overall. Ricciardo shuffles up to 12th with a 1m22.003s, while Hamilton's also on track and casually sets a purple final sector in a pit-out lap.
"Hamilton was having a bit of trouble into Turn 4 before he pitted - he locked the left-front twice in a row here. He was on the C3s for a while on what looks like a race sim, so they were likely pretty worn. The car looks quite lethargic through Turns 1/2 from across the way to Turn 4, which suggests a heavy fuel load."
Stopwatch
Ricciardo moves up to ninth with a 1m21.448s, while Hamilton posts a 1m23.030s on the C2 tyre.
Hamilton's continuing his afternoon running; he's logged 64 laps in the past 2 hours and 20 minutes. Perez has also returned to the track to clock a 1m20.452s - while we've seen neither hide nor hair of the Aston or AlphaTauri this afternoon as they continue repairs.
Hamilton comes in to the pitbox, and the mechanics treat it as a live pitstop practice scenario. Three tyres go on relatively swiftly, but a sticky right-rear causes a slight delay. Engine off, and it's back into the garage for the Mercedes.
"Looks like it wasn’t knackered C3s giving Hamilton trouble at Turn 4 - he’s repeatedly locking his left front even on fresh C2s. It doesn’t seem to be costing him speed through the corner, but it won’t help come the end of a high-fuel stint."
Twitter
That's an early bath for three teams - and with an hour and a half to go, it's unclear if we'll see Yuki Tsunoda this afternoon.
Ricciardo meanwhile moves up to eighth in the standings after logging a 1m20.790s - jumping above McLaren team-mate Norris.
We've got an hour and 20 minutes left - and Sainz, Perez and Albon are all on-track. All former and present team-mates of some gentleman named Max Verstappen.
"The Williams is smoking again - a big plume when Albon steps on the gas each time out of Turn 5."
Hamilton returns to the circuit after a short spell in the garage. Here's an artist's impression of the work done in the Mercedes car hole:
Thanks to his near ever-presence on the circuit this afternoon, Hamilton has the most laps of the day of all the drivers - with 69. Nice.
As Hamilton clocks onto 70, Mercedes has 136 laps for the day so far. Meanwhile, Sainz posts a 1m20.883s to go P10.
Twitter
On the main @autosport Twitter account, Luke Smith will be answering your questions over the next 30 minutes. Got a burning question? Ask away!
Sainz is pushing Hamilton for lappiest (it's a word, trust me bro) driver of the day - Hamilton's now up to 72, Sainz sits on 70. Ferrari's tally for today is 114, just four more than Red Bull's count of 110.
Stopwatch
A brace of personal bests come out of nowhere, as Perez sets a 1m20.441s to go P7 while Hamilton posts a 1m20.410s to sit above him in sixth. They split the Williamses on the timing boards as a result.
There's not a lot of running going on right now - just Albon and Ricciardo doing the legwork at the moment. Ricciardo's McLaren just flashed past in a pitlane drive-through and...let's just say it needs a good clean. Heard the MCL36 is also available in orange.
Photo
Given Mazepin's done nine laps all day in the all-white Haas, it may prove to be one of the more elusive testing liveries. Are we going to use this as an opportunity to dig out obscure liveries from pre-season tests? You betcha.
Photo
Remember when Arrows ran its Orange (and orange) liveried A21 in all-black during the winter months? Pepperidge Farm remembers:
Stopwatch
Sainz and Hamilton have improved marginally, with Sainz moving up to P8 with a 1m20.518s, while Hamilton goes P5 with a 1m20.225s on the C3 compound.
Stopwatch
Perez now makes a move up to second place overall with a set of C4s, moving team-mate Verstappen down a place with a 1m19.556s - just over 0.3s off Russell's morning benchmark.
By: Haydn Cobb
Published:
Page:
