Barcelona test, (2) Day 3

(c) Octane Photographic

The 3rd day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, the 7th day in total, was one with a rather wet ending, with the session being interrupted by a heavy downpour in the afternoon.

The day also saw Mclaren bring heavy updates into day light on the MP4-27 while Red Bull flew out their Australian GP specifications for testing, basically a whole new car.

The penultimate day of testing saw fewer drivers break the 100 lap barrier with the day being broken up into the typical morning short runs and afternoon longer runs or race simulations.



Sergio Perez signed off his testing duties before Melbourne by topping the time sheets with a best time of 1m22.094, which is the fastest lap of Barcelona testing so far. He circulated the track 113 times and his best effort was set in the morning on the soft tyres. He was one of many who completed qualifying simulations just before lunch time,  but many chose the super softs instead of the more durable soft tyres. This made Perez's time all the more impressive. He said "I am very happy with how my final test day went. We did an intensive programme with qualifying and race preparation, which was important to do. I think we have demonstrated that the car has developed well over the testing period."

(c) Octane Photographic

Just behind him, 0.009 seconds down, was Jenson Button in the heavily revised MP4-27. The popular British driver took over from Lewis Hamilton, who will test tomorrow, and finished a good second on a 1m22.103 after 44 laps. He lapped the circuit a fair few times less than his rivals due to a hydraulics issue which kept him in the garage for a considerable amount of time. What made his run even more impressive was that he used the soft tyre to set his best time as well as it being set in the cooler afternoon conditions.

Behind him finished Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso, who had been 2nd for the majority of the days running. He was just 0.061 behind Perez but he set his best time on the grippier super soft rubber. The Aussie still managed to complete the most laps of anyone, 130, on the penultimate day of testing. The rain shower interrupted a promising long run so he spend the rest of the afternoon doing short runs on the wet and intermediate tyre. He said "A good day with my highest number of kilometres of the season, which is perfect preparation for Melbourne. I enjoyed the race simulation and we treated it like a real race when the rain came, with my engineer asking me on the radio to make the call about when to come in for tyres and which ones to fit"

4th finished Felipe Massa in the F2012, stopping rumours that he had been sacked (who made that one up?!). He also used the super soft tyre for his best lap of 1m22.413 with the Brazilian circulating the track 122 times. Just behind him finished Paul Di Resta in the Force India VJM05. The British based team have had a quiet test this time around, with Scottish driver Paul completing 108 laps to add to their impressive Circuit de Catalunya mileage. His best lap of 1m22.446 was around 3 tenths away from Perez's time.

(c) Octane Photographic

6th finished Bruno Senna in the Williams. Like Force India they have had a quiet test. Senna set a best time of 1m22.480 to join Massa and Di Resta in the 3 tenth deficit to Perez. He did stop on track during the afternoon but was soon back on track to complete his 111 laps of running. He said "Today was a very good day. We completed some runs on lower fuel, which I hadn't done before, using all the different tyre compounds. I was then able to do a full race simulation this afternoon, to learn more about the car and tyres in a race situation."

7th finished the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen as the CT-01 gradually showed its 1 lap pace. His best lap of 1m22.630 was set on the super softs but was extremely encouraging as the Finn finished just 2 tenths back from the cars in 4th, 5th and 6th. 64 laps of mileage was a little less than they were expecting but they still gathered valuable data. He said :"A pretty good day. We were able to complete this morning's plan and we have found a good direction on setup that is giving me real confidence in the balance which is what we wanted before we head to Melbourne. The afternoon session was cut short by the rain but not before we had finished the tests we wanted to do on start procedures, pre-race programs and all the background checks you have to get done over the winter tests."

8th finished Mark Webber in the Red Bull RB8. His best time of 1m22.662 was close to Kovalainen's bench mark but Webber was running the slightly slower soft tyres, like Perez and Button. He completed 70 laps in a basically all new Red Bull, which had a revised front wing and exhausts. They focused on short runs so they could analyse the changes they have made to the downforce and grip levels.

9th finished Nico Rosberg who reached the 100 lap barrier again, lapping 129 times. His best time of 1m22.932 was the last in the sub 1m23's and was over 8 tenths behind Perez. His time was on the soft compound and the team focused mainly on tyre degradation. He said I'm happy with my pre-season testing programme, and I believe that we have made a step forward from last year. I have been able to achieve a lot of mileage which shows that the car is very reliable, and as a driver, I feel ready now for the first race in Melbourne. "

Propping up the time sheets finished Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus E20. The same car that led the first 2 days of the last winter test was only good enough for last in the times. Raikkonen's best lap, 1 of just 43, was the only lap in the 1m23's with a 1m23.379 over 1.3 seconds off the pace. The "Ice man" had a difficult morning as he spend alot of the day in the pits, complaining about the steering.

The first drops of rain were welcome relief for some as they got to gather some wet weather data while others saw it as a problem as it cut short their longer stints. The table is becoming ever closer so Australia will be the read judge.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver         Team            Time                Laps
 1.  Perez          Sauber          1m22.094s           114
 2.  Button         McLaren         1m22.103s  +0.009   44
 3.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1m22.155s  +0.061   131
 4.  Massa          Ferrari         1m22.413s  +0.319   122
 5.  Di Resta       Force India     1m22.446s  +0.352   108
 6.  Senna          Williams        1m22.480s  +0.386   111
 7.  Kovalainen     Caterham        1m22.630s  +0.536   64
 8.  Webber         Red Bull        1m22.662s  +0.568   70
 9.  Rosberg        Mercedes        1m22.932s  +0.838   129
10.  Raikkonen      Lotus           1m25.379s  +3.285   43