Maldonado fastest as McLaren woes return

Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time of the third day of the second test as McLaren once again had reliability issues.

A time of 1:24.348 from Maldonado was the fastest of the week so far but came on the supersoft Pirelli tyre in the afternoon session. It marked the second time this week that Maldonado had been fastest, with the Lotus also topping the times on day one. As well as pace, the E23 showed good reliability to complete over 100 laps, one of five cars to do so.

While so many teams enjoyed encouraging mileage, McLaren was once again hit by reliability issues. Jenson Button stopped on track in the morning session and Honda confirmed its MGU-K seal issues had yet to be resolved. Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai told F1i that the replacement part was only a temporary fix, saying he is keen to improve the quality of some components.

Button’s cause was not helped by a badly timed red flag late in the session just as he left the pit lane to add to his lap count. Max Verstappen stopped at the pit lane exit, and just as Button pulled out of the pits the red flag was brought out, causing him to stop the MP4-30 in the pit lane.

Verstappen’s stoppage could have been the result of a fuel run-out test as he completed the most mileage throughout the day, covering 129 laps for Toro Rosso. Verstappen was also second quickest, setting a best time of 1:24.739 on the supersofts.

Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes as he completed a full day in the car for the first time this week. His lap of 1:26.076 was over 1.7s slower than Maldonado but came on the medium tyre as Mercedes continues to keep its true pace under wraps.

Marcus Ericsson’s second consecutive day in the Sauber saw him set the fourth fastest time, but he only completed six laps in the morning session due to a gearbox issue which had hampered the team on Friday. Ericsson ended the day with 53 laps under his belt, a quarter of a second slower than Hamilton.

Another driver to break the 100-lap mark was Sebastian Vettel, who started the day with a spin on his out lap. Vettel lost control on a damp patch of track exiting Turn 4 and ended up in the gravel facing the wrong way, but recovered to set the fifth fastest time as Ferrari focused on aerodynamic running and set-up work.

Renault completed more impressive mileage on day three, with Verstappen’s tally being added to by 112 laps from Daniil Kvyat. For the second day in succession, Red Bull was able to complete a race simulation, although Kvyat destroyed a set of soft tyres in the final stint and had to pit again with two laps remaining of the run.

Williams split its running between Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas as it carried out pit stop practice for the majority of the day. The change came as a result of an unsettled weather forecast, with a brief shower hitting the circuit late in the morning session. Massa ended the day seventh quickest and Bottas ninth with 103 laps between them.

Pascal Wehrlein got 81 laps under his belt on his final day in the Force India, setting a best time nearly three seconds off the pace, while Button was bottom of the times and 4.8s slower than Maldonado after McLaren’s problems.

Full times and day three as it happened.