Barcelona Testing – Day 3: Bottas and Hamilton on top, 4 red flags

Valtteri Bottas set his best time in the morning, gaining more than a second in one lap over the pole time he already held. This shows that the potential of the Mercedes W11 has clearly not yet been fully unveiled. Despite this, the two Mercedes drivers are dominating the standings today. Hamilton is 7 tenths behind his teammate and 7 tenths ahead of the 3rd driver, Esteban Ocon, in the Renault RS20.

The Renault experienced an issue in the middle of the afternoon while Daniel Ricciardo was driving. The problem, although still undetermined, does not concern the engine block since the car was able to return to the track in about twenty minutes. Ricciardo is in 7th position of the day with a time of 1:17.574, about 1.8 seconds off the fastest time of the day.

Lance Stroll sets the 4th fastest time of the day. He completed 116 laps today. He is ahead of Kvyat in the AlphaTauri and Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo. The Italian driver was the most enduring on track with 152 laps. They particularly tested the car’s aero with fluorescent paint in the air intakes to trace the fluid’s direction. The team also conducted half a dozen tire changes as practice before the start of the season.

Overall, the mechanics of most teams were called into action in the last quarter-hour with a lot of pit stops, notably for McLaren, Williams, and Alfa Romeo.

Max Verstappen is 8th today. He shared the wheel with Alex Albon who drove this afternoon. Albon is 10th with a time of 1:18.154. Both drivers completed 169 laps today for Red Bull. It’s the team with the most track presence today, matching the number of laps with the Renault RS20. Ricciardo also tested the car’s aero with blue paint, a change from the fluorescent yellow. This paint probably contributed to the spin the Australian experienced at the end of the day.

Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were driving for McLaren. They are 11th and 14th. Romain Grosjean, who took the wheel of the Haas in the morning before giving up his place to his teammate at the lunch break. The Danish driver had little chance to benefit from the car as he went into the gravel after only a few laps due to a puncture in the right rear tire.

Sebastian Vettel is only 13th with the Ferrari. The Ferrari’s power unit had to be replaced before the lunch break. The Ferrari was one of the single-seaters to cause a session interruption. In the end, the German still managed to complete 100 laps.

Nicholas Latifi had to abandon his car on the side of the straight line in the morning. However, he managed to complete 72 laps. He ranks 15th.

It’s the end of the first week of testing in Barcelona. We’ll see you for the second week of winter testing next week.

Results of the 3rd day of winter testing in Barcelona: