Vettel’s effort sticks but medium-shod Mercedes pair quick on race simulation

Sebastian Vettel’s unofficial lap record held up to give him the top spot on the penultimate day of the final pre-season Formula 1 test. The Ferrari driver set a time of 1m17.182sec before the lunch break and ran 188 laps over the day. 

Runner-up Kevin Magnussen, who set a morning time of 1min18.360sec on supersofts, completed 150 laps over the day while Pierre Gasly ended up third, his Toro Rosso completing 169 laps with a fastest time of 1min18.373sec on hypersoft tyres.

The Mercedes pair – Valtteri Bottas in ninth behind eighth-place Lewis Hamilton – set consistently fast times. Hamilton’s pole position time at the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix was a 1min19.173sec lap, while his fastest today was a 1min19.575sec effort on medium tyres.

McLaren completed the most laps it has managed since the hybrid era began on a single pre-season test day with Stoffel Vandoorne’s trouble-free 148 laps putting him sixth, behind the Renault pair (led by Nico Hülkenberg).

While Marcus Ericsson finished 146 laps in his Sauber and finished seventh, he beached his car again, this time on Turn 4 during a race simulation, bringing out a red flag with an hour remaining. 

Williams finished at the bottom of the timesheet for the third consecutive day, Lance Stroll’s time of 1min20.262sec set on ultrasoft tyres. Robert Kubica drove in the morning session and ended the session 10^th on supersoft tyres, his time of 1min19.629sec enough to beat Sergio Pérez (11^th) and Max Verstappen in 12^th.