F1 Barcelona test, all you need to know..

BARCELONA DAY 3: BOTTAS SIZZLES IN THE MORNING


Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap of pre-season as Mercedes continued to ramp up their dominance on day three of the opening Formula One test.

The reigning world champions have been the class of the field in Barcelona this week and they showed little signs of easing up on their relentless pace on Wednesday.

Bottas, who hands over the reins to his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon, posted a quickest time of one minute and 19.705 seconds and completed an impressive 75 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya.

Indeed Bottas’ time would have been quick enough to seal pole position for every race staged here since the configuration of the circuit changed in 2007.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was 1.4 seconds adrift of the Mercedes with Britain’s Jolyon Palmer third in the order.

almer’s day got off the a troubled start after he lost control of his Renault at turn three and span into the gravel.

But the 26-year-old Briton returned to the track after a series of repairs to his car and delivered a decent haul of 51 laps.

While little can be read into lap times at this stage of the season, Palmer, who will be replaced by team-mate Nico Hulkenberg for the afternoon session, will still be pleased to occupy third in the standings as he hopes to build on the solitary point he scored in his debut year.

McLaren have endured a difficult week in Barcelona with their hapless Honda engine suffering a host of reliability issues.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso was back in the car on Wednesday morning and managed to get 28 laps under his belt, but the Spaniard was a distant four seconds off Bottas.

Hamilton, who did not see world champion Nico Rosberg following his brief appearance in the paddock on Wednesday morning, took over from Bottas after lunch.

Barcelona F1 Test Day 3, Tuesday – Morning Session, Best Lap Times

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps	Tyre
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:19.705	75	U
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1:21.153	48	S
3	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:21.396	51	S
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:21.609	69	M
5	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:21.824	54	SS
6	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:22.351	56	S
7	Afonso Celis	Force India-Mercedes	1:23.781	39	S
8	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1:23.832	28	S
9	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:23.952	31	M
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:25.133	27	M

Combined Best Lap Times by Driver:

Driver	Team	Test Day	Tyre	Time
Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Day Three	Ultrasofts	1:19.705
Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Day Two	Softs	1:20.960
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Day Two	Supersofts	1:20.983
Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	Day Three	Softs	1:21.153
Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Day Three	Softs	1:21.396
Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Day Three	Mediums	1:21.609
Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	Day Three	Softs	1:21.824
Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	Day One	Softs	1:22.076
Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	Day Two	Softs	1:22.200
Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	Day Two	Supersofts	1:22.204
Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	Day Three	Softs	1:22.351
Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	Day Two	Supersofts	1:22.509
Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	Day Two	Softs	1:22.956
Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	Day One	Softs	1:23.709
Alfonso Celis	Force India-Mercedes	Day Three	Force India	1:23.781
Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Day Three	Softs	1:23.956
Carlo Sainz	Toro Rosso-Renault	Day One	Mediums	1:24.494
Antonio Giovinazzi	Sauber-Ferrari	Day Two	Softs	1:24.617
Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Day One	Mediums	1:24.784
Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	Day Three	Softs	1:25.600
Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	Day Three	Mediums	1:25.133

Best Lap Times by Tyres:

Driver	Team	Date	Tyre	Lap time
Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Day Three	Ultrasofts	1:19.705
Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Day Three	Supersofts	1:19.838
Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Day Three	Softs	1:20.107
Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Day Three	Mediums	1:21.609