Barcelona F1 test: Hamilton stays on top of times on final day

The Briton had capitalised on a break between showers in the morning session to go top, and his position was assured when the rain returned to further disrupt the afternoon.

On top of the inclement weather teams also had to navigate a series of red flags as a total of eight stoppages punctuated the day.

Hamilton himself caused the penultimate red when he stopped between Turns 6 and 7 with little more than 20 minutes to go.

The day was then brought to a premature halt as Jules Bianchi, taking over from Adrian Sutil at Force India, also stopped out on track just before the first turn.

The sodden afternoon meant there was no change in the morning order.

Jenson Button therefore ended the final day second ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Bianchi and Esteban Gutierrez.

Sauber's 2013 rookie also caused a red when he slid off and into the gravel at Turn 4 early on.

He resumed quickly and eventually clocked up 96 laps, making him the day's busiest man.

Giedo van der Garde put Caterham ahead of Ferrari as he edged out Felipe Massa by just over one tenth of a second.

Mark Webber, Max Chilton and Romain Grosjean meanwhile rounded out the top 10.

Williams men Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado - who shared the morning and afternoon respectively - managed a combined 36 laps without setting a time.

Bottas put in the lion's share on a morning he dedicated to pitstop practice, while Maldonado put in 13 laps in the wet afternoon.

The third and final winter test of 2013 will take place at Barcelona next week, running from February 28 to March 3.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver                Team            Time       Gap      Laps Tyre
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes        1m23.282s            52  Medium
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren         1m23.633s  +0.351    70  Medium
 3.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso      1m24.071s  +0.789    80  Soft
 4.  Jules Bianchi         Force India     1m25.732s  +2.450    96  Medium
 5.  Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber          1m26.239s  +1.957    61  Medium
 6.  Giedo van der Garde   Caterham        1m27.429s  +4.147    50  Medium
 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari         1m27.563s  +4.281    80  Medium
 8.  Mark Webber           Red Bull        1m27.616s  +4.334    64  Medium
 9.  Max Chilton           Marussia        1m29.902s  +6.620    51  Medium
10.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus           1m34.800s  +11.518   41  Hard
11.  Valtteri Bottas       Williams        no time              23
12.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams        no time              13

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