Force India zoom to the top of Barcelona day three timesheets - Ferrari drop back as Hülkenberg posts the fastest time
Published by Christine
Force India knocked Ferrari from the top spot in Barcelona, as Nico Hülkenberg took the team to the head of the timesheets. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen suffered a lack of running after completing just four installation laps in the morning without setting a lap time, but he made up for it in the afternoon. However, he didn't manage to repeat Vettel's feat of posting the fastest lap time, and he was even deposed to third by Romain Grosjean in the Haas.
All eyes were on Kevin Magnussen, making his F1 return in the Renault. He had no troubles today, compared to the issues suffered by teammate Jolyon Palmer on the previous two days, although he did bring out a red flag an hour before the end of the session.
Rio Haryanto was making his F1 debut for Manor, and he also caused some stoppage time due to a spin out on track. There was another red flag due to one of the wheels on Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso not being attached correctly.
We are having small issues, very, very small issues, that have to be addressed but apart from that there is progress and confidence that we could have better reliability this year. We were not looking at performance. I don't even know the laptime or what position I finished today.
- Carlos Sainz
Mercedes had intended for Lewis Hamilton to complete a full day of running today, with Nico Rosberg back in the car on Thursday, but they've had to convert their programme into two half-days for each driver instead. This is down to the huge amount of laps the team are completing, which even they weren't anticipating. Each driver has done essentially a double race, so they're taking it in turns for the rest of the test.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N Hülkenberg | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:23.110 | 99 |
| 2 | R Grosjean | Haas F1 Team | 1:25.874 | 82 |
| 3 | K Räikkönen | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:25.977 | 78 |
| 4 | K Magnussen | Renault Sport F1 Team | 1:26.014 | 111 |
| 5 | N Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:26.084 | 74 |
| 6 | C Sainz | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:26.239 | 161 |
| 7 | F Nasr | Sauber F1 Team | 1:26.392 | 115 |
| 8 | L Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:26.421 | 88 |
| 9 | D Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:26.497 | 74 |
| 10 | F Massa | Williams Martini Racing | 1:26.712 | 109 |
| 11 | J Button | McLaren Honda F1 Team | 1:26.919 | 51 |
| 12 | R Haryanto | Manor Racing MRT | 1:28.249 | 78 |
Naturally there's nothing to be read from the times, particularly due to the wide variety of tyres on offer this year. However, it's worth noting that Red Bull were on the lower half of the table today, along with Williams, McLaren and Manor.
"Happy and proud" A great day's work for our new Indonesian driver.
ManorRacing
... and just when we were preparing to celebrate Nico's arrival in triple-digit territory, the Hulk dives in the pits. 99 it is.
That's a wrap for today's running, folks. We have a hydraulic leak that the team are fixing so we'll be back tomorrow as normal. #F1Testing
Even though testing times are meaningless, Haas being second is cool #F1
Tomorrow is the final day of this first week of testing, so teams will hope to wrap up their work with a positive last few hours on track. Rosberg and Hamilton will both be back in the car tomorrow, whilst we'll also see the return of Verstappen and Alfonso Celis, who finishes up the week for Force India.
