Formula 1 Testing: Times from Day 4 at Barcelona

Friday saw the final day of the second test at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona. 

Vitaly Petrov made way for Heikki Kovalainen at Caterham, Michael Schumacher stepped aside for Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes and Charles Pic came in for Timo Glock at Marussia, but it was otherwise the same drivers we saw yesterday.

Pic's day ended before it began with a suspension issue leaving the French rookie on the sidelines all day.  Marussia will—if all goes accord to plan—bring their new car to the third and final test at the end of next week.

Kovalainen lost time in the morning due to an engine change, but still managed a respectable 70 laps for Caterham.

The fastest time of the day came from Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi on the soft tyres, a 1:22.316 proving the quickest time of the entire test.  After a strong showing on Thursday, Pastor Maldonado was second fastest for Williams.

#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1:22.312	145
02	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:22.561	134
03	Paul di Resta	Force India	1:23.119	101
04	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:23.200	115
05	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:23.563	103
06	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1:23.774	85
07	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:23.792	92
08	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:23.843	139
09	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1:26.968	70

As usual, we can safely assume that not everyone went for raw pace—only Sauber and Williams appear to have had anything approaching a real effort, with the rest of the field concentrating on other things.

Friday saw the highest total number of laps completed of any testing day so far.  Kobayashi was on top of this table as well with 145, with Nico Rosberg close behind with 139.

It's interesting to see Ferrari not doing as many laps as most of the other teams, 103 being the most they've done on a single day all week.  The Italians still appear to be struggling to understand their car, and are not yet putting together the race simulations we've seen their rivals do. 

Also playing catch-up are Caterham, who look weak in terms of both speed and reliability.  Many fans had hoped (and expected) to see them join the midfield this season, but on current form that looks unlikely.

The third and final preseason test, also at the Circuit de Catalunya, starts (for most teams) on March 1st and runs until the 4th.  For logistical reasons, Ferrari and Red Bull will run from the 2nd to the 5th.