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Sauber top the times, bringing first Barcelona week to an end - Kamui Kobayashi and Sauber set the fastest time of the day

Published by Christine

Kamui must be tired after all that running
Kamui must be tired after all that runningCredit: Sauber Motorsport AG

Kamui Kobayashi found himself on top of the timesheets for the final day of testing in Barcelona this week. The Sauber team admitted they were running super fast laps in an attempt to improve their qualifying performance this season. Kamui's time, set on the soft tyres, was the fastest of the entire week, and he managed to complete 145 laps overall.

Yesterday's fastest driver, Pastor Maldonado, was a close second to Kobayashi - just two tenths down. Paul di Resta finished the day third overall, and also brought out a red flag by going off track.

Paul has stopped out on track - looks like he's in the gravel at turn 9. The car is being recovered by the team.

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Meanwhile, Marussia had bigger problems on their hands as they found a problem with the car. It seemed fixable at first, but as these tweets show, it was not to be.

Five minutes til the session starts but looks like we'll be in the garage. Some work being done to the car

Marussia_F1Team Marussia_F1Team

Seems to be an issue with the right rear corner of the car which they're looking over. Keep you posted.

Marussia_F1Team Marussia_F1Team

As a result of today's problems we've decided to end our test early. The issue was a damaged suspension component to the right rear corner

Marussia_F1Team Marussia_F1Team

They didn't manage to get out on track today, but are confident they'll be back next week, when they should have the new car ready to roll. The second Barcelona test gets underway next Thursday.

2012 Pre-Season Testing - Day 4, Barcelona
PositionDriverTeamTimeLaps
1Kamui KobayashiSauber1:22.312145
2Pastor MaldonadoWilliams1:22.561134
3Paul di RestaForce India1:23.119101
4Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:23.200115
5Felipe MassaFerrari1:23.563103
6Mark WebberRed Bull1:23.77485
7Jean-Éric VergneToro Rosso1:23.79292
8Nico RosbergMercedes1:23.843139
9Heikki KovalainenCaterham1:26.96870

All content in the series F1 testing 2012