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Formula 1 Barcelona February Testing

F1 Barcelona pre-season test - Day 3

Minute by minute updates on the final day of the 2022 Barcelona F1 pre-season test

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG

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.

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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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Immediately, Bottas posts a 1m30.433s to suggest that it's very much possible to stick to the track on slicks.
Tick tock, it's slick o'clock! Bottas has been reported to have bolted on C3 tyres. Let the fun commence.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m30.952s for Sainz now, as the track is visibly drier.
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.
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.
Perez pumps in a 1m34.691s to shuffle above Sainz in the order - the fastest time on intermediates thus far.
Perez now gets into intermediate 1m35s country, posting a 1m35.774s lap. He sits 13th in the overall times of the day, below Sainz in 12th.
It's now a 1m35.226s for Sainz as the circuit begins to dry even more, and he's finding more personal bests as he begins his next lap.
Albon holds the fastest inter time for all of five seconds, posting a 1m36.147s - but Sainz punches in a 1m35.944s to deny him anything more than an iota of pleasure.
Stopwatch
Sainz now posts a 1m36.363s on his latest lap - now on intermediates. He follows that up with a 1m36.477s, finding more time out there. The spray on the main straight is basically gone now, so we're fast approaching slicks time...
Stopwatch
It's a 1m37.768s for Albon, which appears to be the best time of the afternoon thus far. We're yet to see Stroll, Tsunoda, Schumacher and Bottas this afternoon - we won't see Ocon after Alpine's troubles in the morning.
Hamilton's next to join the 1m38s party on intermediates. Meanwhile, Williams appears to have enacted a driver switch, with Albon now on the road for the damp part of the session.
There's a 1m38.914s for Ricciardo now, and a 1m39.151s for Hamilton. The back part of the main straight is starting to look visibly drier, but the spray re-engages once the cars start to go downhill.
Ricciardo and Hamilton are now up in the 1m39s on the inters - Hamilton with a 1m39.908s, Ricciardo with a 1m39.361s.
Damp-niel Ricciardo

 

It's a 1m40.146s for Ricciardo now, as Perez sets his first fully recorded laptime of the day - a 1m48.695s.
Ricciardo, Perez and Sainz flash by in quick succession on their following tour, Sainz setting a 1m41.808s while sitting in Perez's slipstream. Hamilton meanwhile comes into his pit box, and takes on a fresh set of inters.
Stopwatch
Perez and Sainz have both now taken to the circuit, the latter on the full wet tyre. Ricciardo has posted a 1m40.982s on the intermediate now - Sainz logs a 1m42.136s on the wets.
Breaking news

By way of a reminder, here's why Alpine won't appear in this afternoon's session - following issues for Fernando Alonso earlier on:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alpine-forced-to-end-barcelona-f1-testing-early-after-car-fire/8487041/

Latifi then out-does Ricciardo's time on inters, setting a 1m42.638s - still over 20s slower than his morning lap. The spray is reducing much more with each lap, although a dry line has yet to properly form.
Latifi gets his intermediate time down to a 1m44.087s, as Hamilton leaves the garage and begins to explore the damp track. Ricciardo did a drive-thru in the pits, but has also returned to the circuit.
Photo
Given the red flags and the handful of laps from two cars in the afternoon, arguably most of the post-12pm running came from these lads: 

 

A 1m44.031s lap last time around for Ricciardo, who finds another 1.8s on his time again, before clocking in a 1m42.814s on his next tour. Latifi's also on inters, so very limited testing for wet tyres.
Ricciardo goes two seconds quicker than he did on wets, so it looks fine for inters. Latifi also heads out.
Sun
Ricciardo quickly zips into the pits and returns to conduct some wet running, albeit this time on the intermediate tyres. Pirelli wanted to test the crossover point between wets and inters this afternoon, but the track's maybe dried too quickly...
'Tis the full wet for Mr. Ricciardo, who's producing some distinct rooster tails along the straight. With the new aero, the spray should be very 'up-washy'...

It is also time to hand over to the marvellous Jake Boxall-Legge to take you through the afternoon session. I'm off to find some tapas.

Daniel Ricciardo is first to go out on track. One presumes the wet tyres, which naturally doesn't have a "C" designation. The upside is, it's SO much easier to see what they are from the window.
Green flag
Worth pointing out the water tankers didn't soak the pitlane so the drivers will need to take care coming out of the pits on the full wets. Here we go!
The water tankers have entered the pits so the track soaking process is complete. It doesn't look that wet but we'll find in a few minutes when the afternoon session begins.

By: Haydn Cobb

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