Raikkonen keeps Ferrari ahead mid-day in Barcelona

Kimi Raikkonen kept Ferrari at the top of the timesheet mid-day, on the final session of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

The Scuderia driver came within a shade of team mate Sebastian Vettel's unofficial lap record, clocking in with a 1m18.221s lap, just 0.039s off yesterday's fastest time.

Pre-season test Day 8 - Mid-day

Clear weather on the horizon offered teams good conditions from the outset, but it anything but a clear start for McLaren.

The Woking-based outfit's reliability issues set in once again with Fernando Alonso stopping on the track at Turn 7 with an apparent engine issue after 5 laps and just after posting the fastest first sector of the morning.

The papaya MCL33 was hauled back to the pits where a broken turbo on the Renault engine was diagnosed, an issue which will likely keep the Spaniard confined to the garage until the early part of the afternoon.

Shortly after the McLaren's halt, the red flag was brought out again, this time following an off-track excursion and a hit with the wall at Turn 12 by Sauber's Charles Leclerc who had been pushing at the time. The flatbed was once again dispatched to retrieve the car, forcing another clean-up for the marshals and a short track delay.

Marcus Ericsson's off on Wednesday at the exact same spot - Turn 12 - suggest the C37 may be a bit of a handful for its drivers.

Meanwhile, up ahead, Kimi Raikkonen continued to lead the field, well clear of his rivals after establishing a benchmark 1m18.238s lap on Pirelli's supersoft compound.

The Finn pressed on however in the last hour of the morning, this time on the hypersoft rubber, ultimately shaving more than a full second off his time to clock in with a 1m17.221s just shy of Vettel's unofficial lap record.

After yesterday's impressive run with Kevin Magnussen, Haas upheld its form, with Romain Grosjean slotting in nicely behind Raikkonen, and comfortably ahead of Brendon Hartley's Toro Rosso in third.

Lewis Hamilton continued to run through Mercedes' development programme which brought him comfortably into the 1m19s zone mid-day, with 97 laps on the board, the most of any driver at that point.

As a reminder, the session will uninterrupted until 6pm CET, and you can follow the action live here.

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