Formula 1 Third Test: Times from Day One at Barcelona

The final preseason F1 test got underway on Thursday at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona.

The weather proved to be fine, with a daytime high of 17°C (63°F) and a light southeasterly wind at the Spanish track.

However, the fortunes of Marussia and HRT were not so bright.  A failed crash test ended the Russian team's hopes of doing any testing before the first race, while HRT—who have passed the crash tests—haven't actually finished building their car.

They hope to have it ready in time for a brief run out on the final day of this test, Sunday.  Whether they'll achieve that goal—and take part in their first ever session of preseason testing—is another matter entirely. 

Also on the receiving end of bad news was Heikki Kovalainen.  The Finn was supposed to drive the Caterham today, but a bout of food poisoning saw him rested and replaced by Vitaly Petrov.

More cheerful was the news from Lotus, who have fixed the suspension mounting issue which forced them to cut short the second test.  The fix added a single kilogram of weight to the car, and shouldn't have any noticeable impact on performance.

Ten teams took part, each fielding one driver.  The quickest time of the day was a 1:23.252, set by Romain Grosjean in the now trouble-free Lotus.  Second fastest was Jenson Button's McLaren, a little under three-tenths of a second behind.

#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:23.252	73
02	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:23.510	64
03	Sergio Perez	Sauber	1:23.568	118
04	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1:23.830	102
05	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:23.992	128
06	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:24.216	113
07	Paul di Resta	Force India	1:24.305	98
08	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:24.318	105
09	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	1:24.876	123
10	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:25.587	58

The quickest lap—set on the soft tyres—was nearly a second slower than the best time we saw at the first test, so the unofficial testing motto gets another airing. 

"It's safe to say no one pushed their car to the limit today."

Except maybe Caterham, who made what looks—on the surface at least—to be a giant leap forward.  Petrov's lap of 1:24.876 was over a second quicker than any time set by the team during the first test, and 123 laps is 53 more than they managed on any single day last week.

Could the Anglo-Malaysian team be ready to latch onto the midfield after all? 

Elsewhere, the top eight were separated by just a second, which is the smallest field spread we've seen this year.  Maldonado did the fewest laps and set the slowest time, three seconds off his best from last week.

Overall it appears to have been a quiet, settled day of testing with longer runs the focus for most teams, with plenty of pit stop practice.  With only three days of testing left before the season opener in Melbourne, will we see some flying laps on day two?

Probably not, but it can't hurt to hope.