It was a very cold morning in Catalunya. Temperatures hovering around just 5°C, making teams reluctant to show off their pace early on.
Hamilton and Ricciardo had some stints on the medium tyre in the first two hours but it was Nico Hulkenberg in the new VJM08 who was racking up the laps, completing 38 laps with just half the morning session over.
Hamilton had parked the Mercedes in his garage for a radical setup change to be completed over lunch, before Williams and Ferrari sent their drivers out on soft tyres which turned into a Massa vs Raikkonen showdown. Massa posted a 1:23.9 with Raikkonen on a 1:24.1.
Round 2 of the showdown: both drivers put on super soft tyres and yet again Massa led the Ferrari on the time sheets… by 0.014 seconds. Both set a 1:23.2 – still half a second away from Rosberg’s time on just the soft compound yesterday.
Going into lunch Hulkenberg had completed the most laps, 76. Hamilton, much like Rosberg the day before, was not happy with the balance of the car. Completing the least laps, 36.
After lunch Sainz, Raikkonen and Ricciardo began race stints on the medium and hard tyres. The temperature had climbed to a toasty 11°C
Raikkonen had a race simulation shortly after lunch.
Then, after a 4 hour absence, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes returned onto the track with the new experimental setup. He set a 1:24.181 on the medium tyre. The fastest lap medium compound lap of the test.
After a positive Friday, McLaren’s day ended after just 39 laps. An oil leak forcing the stoppage.
Hamilton went out with the softs and completed an 8 lap run with the last being a 1:23.022 on the soft tyre whilst Williams ended their day with 70 minutes left of the day. Massa will next drive in Melbourne.
The first red flag of the day came with 25 minutes left and was a result of Marcus Ericsson stopping out on track.
Sainz posted a super soft time of 1:24.191, before causing the second red flag of the day in quick succession. He moved up to fourth. He stopped at turn 3.
In general, the teams got a lot of running. Only McLaren and Mercedes completed less than a century. Hulkenberg showed the VJM08’s had very good reliability. The car circulating the track over 200 times since Friday lunch.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:23.022 | 76 |
| 2 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:23.262 | 102 |
| 3 | K. Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:23.276 | 135 |
| 4 | C. Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:24.191 | 132 |
| 5 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:24.200 | 116 |
| 6 | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:24.477 | 123 |
| 7 | N. Hülkenberg | Force India | 1:24.939 | 158 |
| 8 | K. Magnussen | McLaren | 1:25.225 | 39 |
| 9 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:25.743 | 128 |
Image courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS
