Alfa Romeo Racing's Kimi Raikkonen overhauled his former Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel to lead the field at lunchtime on the third day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
Raikkonen established a new benchmark time for pre-season testing, achieving a lap in 1m17.762s on a set of C4 rubber that comfortably edged Vettel by almost 0.588 seconds, and third -place man, Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.
Pre-season test Day 3 - Morning session
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1:17.762 | 64 |
| 2 | Vettel | Ferrari | 1:18.350 | 80 |
| 3 | Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:18.800 | 63 |
| 4 | Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:18.897 | 45 |
| 5 | Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:18.899 | 33 |
| 6 | Fittipaldi | Haas | 1:19.249 | 48 |
| 7 | Sainz | McLaren | 1:19.354 | 27 |
| 8 | Perez | Racing Point | 1:20.134 | 43 |
| 9 | Bottas | Mercedes | 1:20.693 | 88 |
Wednesday dawned overcast but dry in Barcelona with a 10 degree C ambient temperature, but the Circuit de Catalunya's track was once again as treacherous as ice in the opening laps of the morning session.
Valtteri Bottas kicked off the day for Mercedes while Haas' Pietro Fittipaldi picked up where he had left off the day before, the young Brazilian enjoying his final half-day of pre-season testing.
As an early runner, Fittipaldi even had the honour of putting his famous family name at the top of the time-sheet, something that hadn't been seen since 1975, if we are correct, when Grand Dad Emmo was racing in F1 with McLaren.
Williams' crews were also hard at work behind the closed screens of the team's garage, preparing the FW42 for its belated debut scheduled for this afternoon with George Russell, if things go according to plan.
The bulk of the field kicked off its day with more aero tests and data gathering, with cars sporting the usual array of rakery and measuring devices.
Just under an hour into the session, Racing Point's Sergio Perez laid down the first relevant marker of the day with a 1m20.13, but Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen both overhauled the Mexican as the entered the 1m19 zone.
The former Ferrari team mates detached themselves from the pack, with Vettel - equipped with the C2 'hard' compound - getting down to 1m18.614 while the C3-shod Raikkonen was just 0.3s adrift.
Both cars' performance was perhaps particularly impressive given Barcelona's cold temperatures, although low fuel loads may have also been a factor.
Over two hours into the morning session and there had still been no sign of McLaren as the team was implementing a few overnight changes on its MCL34. But the papaya and vega blue charger, with Carlos Sainz at the wheel, eventually emerged from its garage to get its day started.
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg had been running under the radar all morning until he popped up on the time screen in third place, before pipping Raikkonen for second shortly after as the German undertook a few qualifying simulation runs onboard the R.S.19.
The first red flag of the day was deployed at 11:37am, courtesy of Fittipaldi's Haas stopping on the run down to Turn 9, with smoke puffing out of the rear of the Vf-19.
For all his lack of running, Sainz put himself on the pace almost immediately, moving up to P4 on the time-sheet behind Vettel, Hulkenberg and Raikkonen.
However, a burst in speed from the Alfa Romeo put Raikkonen in the runner-up spot, with the Finn's 1m18.506 representing the fastest lap yet achieved by a car other than a Ferrari.
But the Iceman was on a roll, bolting a set of C4 tyres on to the Alfa C38 and promptly demoting Vettel from the top spot with an impressive 1m17.762, inching closer to last year's overall fastest lap!
Meanwhile Mercedes remained in 'don't read too much into our lap times' mode, with Bottas the slowest of all runners on Wednesday morning.
He hadn't been alone at the bottom of the time-sheet, with Max Verstappen keeping the Finn company until the Red Bull driver picked up the speed to pull himself up the order.
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