Barcelona Test I – Day 3: Maldonado leads on super-softs ahead of Verstappen
Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time of the day in Barcelona on super-softs, ahead of Max Verstappen, also on super-softs. The day was disrupted by rain, but it didn't stop the drivers from covering many laps.
Pastor Maldonado finished on top of the third day of testing held in Barcelona. The Venezuelan set a lap time of 1:24.348 on super-softs to climb to the top of the timesheets, ahead of Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso) who had achieved a 1:24.739 with the softest compounds also provided by Pirelli.
Behind these two men, we find Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) who set his time on medium tires, Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) who achieved his best lap on softs, then Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) who was not too disturbed by his off-track excursion this morning.
At Williams, the day was shared between the two drivers, Massa and Bottas, with both men achieving similar lap times and a similar total number of laps. On the McLaren side, not everything was optimal for Button, who again encountered some issues with the Honda power unit, which forced him to drive without full power at times.
The day was disrupted by rain and a few red flags, but it wasn’t too much of an issue for the drivers who were able to complete numerous laps. Five drivers have totals exceeding 100 laps, led by Verstappen (129 laps), Kvyat (112 laps), Vettel (105 laps), Maldonado (104 laps), and Hamilton (101 laps).
Barcelona Test Rankings I – Day 3:
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
|
1
|
Maldonado | Lotus F1 Team | 1:24.348 |
104
|
|
|
2
|
Verstappen | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:24.739 | +0.391 |
129
|
|
3
|
Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:26.076 | +1.728 |
101
|
|
4
|
Ericsson | Sauber F1 Team | 1:26.340 | +1.992 |
53
|
|
5
|
Vettel | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:26.407 | +2.059 |
105
|
|
6
|
Kvyat | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:26.589 | +2.241 |
112
|
|
7
|
Massa | Williams Martini Racing | 1:26.912 | +2.564 |
55
|
|
8
|
Perez | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:27.333 | +2.985 |
81
|
|
9
|
Bottas | Williams Martini Racing | 1:27.556 | +3.208 |
49
|
|
10
|
Button | McLaren Honda | 1:29.151 | +4.803 |
24
|
