Formula One

Exactly what it is there for.

Williams quickest today. Must be running light

Pastor Maldonado's late morning run was enough to keep Williams at the top of the timesheets as the third and penultimate day of pre-season testing in Barcelona drew to a close.

Long runs were once again the order of the day in the afternoon, with Michael Schumacher delivering the most extensive - a 59-lap stint on only the third public day of testing for Mercedes's W03.

Vitaly Petrov was the only driver to improve upon is morning benchmark, as a switch to Pirelli's super soft rubber yielded a 1m26.448s in the final 15 minutes. He stayed tenth however, just over four seconds down on Maldonado.

The Venezuelan likewise set his best time - the fastest seen so far in Barcelona – on the red super soft compound, lapping the circuit in 1m22.391s in the more advantageous morning conditions.

Schumacher's afternoon work took him to 127 laps for the day, the most by any driver. He ended second fastest as a result of his morning pace, just over nine tenths down on Maldonado.

Kamui Kobayashi was next up for Sauber, completing 99 laps in the C31.

Jenson Button was the last driver to dip under the 1m24s bracket in the morning, while in the afternoon he managed a total of 74 laps – often in individual stints of around ten laps, punctuated by short stops in the garage.

Jean-Eric Vergne finished fifth for Toro Rosso, ahead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari – the latter pair sharing the exact same time of 1m24.771s.

Massa brought the day to a slightly premature halt when he stopped on the exit of the pitlane two minutes from the end. Mark Webber had earlier stopped out on track at Turn 8, one of several short red flag interludes.

Paul di Resta, taking over from yesterday's pacesetter Nico Hulkenberg at Force India, set the eighth fastest time, ahead of Timo Glock in the 2011-spec Marussia.

Despite his afternoon improvement Vitaly Petrov rounded out the day's runners in the Caterham CT 01.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Maldonado Williams 1m22.391s 106
2. Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.384s +0.993 127
3. Kobayashi Sauber 1m23.582s +1.191 99
4. Button McLaren 1m23.918s +1.527 114
5. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m24.433s +2.042 78
6. Webber Red Bull 1m24.771s +2.380 97
7. Massa Ferrari 1m24.771s +2.380 84
8. Di Resta Force India 1m25.646s +3.255 83
9. Glock Marussia 1m26.173s +3.782 108
10. Petrov Caterham 1m26.448s +4.057 70

from
autosport.com

Sauber today, but Willys hanging in there.

Kamui Kobayashi topped the final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona, setting the fastest time seen so far this week.

The Sauber driver switched to Pirelli's soft compound in the final hour of the morning and was able to get down to a 1m22.312s - thousandths of a second faster than Pastor Maldonado's Thursday benchmark.

Maldonado was also his nearest challenger in this session, getting to within a quarter of a second of the C31 after switching to super softs in the closing stages. The Venezuelan had spent the early morning in race simulation, and racked up more than 80 laps before the lunch break.

He could not deprive Kobayashi of the top spot however, meaning eight different drivers have topped the opening eight mornings of testing.

Jenson Button ended the morning third fastest in the McLaren, having set his best time relatively early on and on hard rubber.

Force India's Paul di Resta was little more than one tenth of a second down the road in fourth, although the Briton's morning was interrupted when he went off into the gravel at Campsa, bringing out about the only red flag of the morning. He was able to return in the final ten minutes.

Felipe Massa finished fifth fastest for Ferrari, which bolted on super softs in the final five minutes but opted to run only installation laps.

Mark Webber put the Red Bull RB8 sixth, just 0.018s ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso.

Webber opted mainly to run on mediums, although he did switch to softs for the final 30 minutes. Vergne meanwhile achieved his time on super softs.

Nico Rosberg finished 1.7s down on Kobayashi in eighth, the German completing 92 laps - the most of any driver - in the W03.

Heikki Kovalainen managed just 16 laps for Caterham before an electrical problem forced the team to do an engine change, and cut his morning short.

Marussia fared even worse, Charles Pic not managing a single run due to suspension troubles.

Morning times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.312s 63
2. Maldonado Williams 1m22.561s +0.249 86
3. Button McLaren 1m23.200s +0.888 50
4. Di Resta Force India 1m23.304s +0.992 45
5. Massa Ferrari 1m23.563s +1.251 56
6. Webber Red Bull 1m23.774s +1.462 40
7. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.792s +1.480 45
8. Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.092s +1.780 92
9. Kovalainen Caterham 1m27.047s +4.735 16

You know how winter testing goes. Newey is too smart to show his hand this early.

They will be fine in a few weeks and take the front row as usual!

I worked with a guy who was lead mechanic on Senna's car when he was at Toleman (which became Benetton, then Renault, not Lotus)

Senna gave him a Rolex for Christmas back then, and all the way till Imola 94, Winston used to get a Christmas card from him.