F1 Pre-Season Testing 2015: Times, News and Reports from Day 3 in Barcelona

Lotus took more positives from their pre-season testing in Barcelona on Saturday as Pastor Maldonado finished fastest for the second time in the space of three days.

The 29-year-old topped the charts with a time of one minute and 24.348 seconds in the afternoon session, recording 104 laps in total and brimming with confidence following his Day 3 performance, per the official Formula 1 website:

"

We achieved a lot today and it was great to complete so many laps and end the day as the fastest car. Certainly, I feel much more confident in the E23 and we’re learning a lot about it with all the laps we’re completing.

I’m able to push when needed and everything about the whole package feels a lot more together than last year, especially if you remember where we were in terms of performance and reliability during the pre-season in 2014.  We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re making very good progress so we’re all very positive about the work being done.

"

Seventeen-year-old Max Verstappen was less than four-hundredths of a second slower than the Venezuelan and registered a massive 129 laps on Day 3 to give Toro Rosso a much-needed boost.

Both he and Maldonado recorded their fastest times on supersoft tyres, while Lewis Hamilton continued his progress with a finish as third-fastest despite not managing to break the 1:26.00 mark.

Here's how the fastest drivers finished on Day 3 in Catalunya, provided by Sky Sports:

Position	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes	1m24.348s	-	104
2	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m24.739s	0.391s	129
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m26.076s	1.728s	101
4	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m26.340s	1.992s	53
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m26.407s	2.059s	105
6	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/Renault	1m26.589s	2.241s	112
7	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m26.912s	2.564s	55
8	Pascal Wehrlein	Force India/Mercedes	1m27.333s	2.985s	81
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m27.556s	3.208s	49
10	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1m29.151s	4.803s	24

It was a mixed day for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who spun out the SF15-T on Turn 4 in his opening lap of the day but came back to finish with 105 laps and a fastest time of one minute and 26.407 seconds.

The German admitted the slow start was due to a mere lack of concentration and "not being awake" as opposed to any sort of fault with the vehicle, per Autosport:

"

I probably was not yet awake. It was very crisp this morning, quite cold and I wanted to see how cold it was, I went a little bit too aggressive and simply spun. It was my mistake, so it was up to me to try to help the team as much as I could to get some of the gravel out of the car.

The most important thing is the car continues to run without big problems. There are little bits here and there that we need to work on. You have to keep the feet on the ground and remember there are a lot of things that have changed. The basis looks good to build on. Obviously I was not here last year, so could not judge last year's car.

But people like myself and Kimi [Raikkonen] are happy with initial car behaviour. There is still a long way to go and Mercedes are the ones to beat. Those are the facts, I would say.

"

That mistake came just a day after Raikkonen had a very encouraging Friday spell in Barcelona, finishing second only to Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

Nevertheless, Vettel recovered to give Ferrari some more encouraging signs ahead of their 2015 bow.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Hamilton only made his full return from illness on Friday, but is still fighting to shrug off the symptoms and finished Saturday's proceedings with another 101 laps under his belt.

Tyre issues were pointed out by the Briton as the chief concern for title holders Mercedes after completing his Saturday shift:

"

It was a hard day out there physically, but I’ll make sure I’m better for next week and come back stronger. The biggest issue at the moment is actually getting the tyres working properly. There’s temperature in them but they just don’t seem to ever be in the operating window. Hopefully when we see warmer temperatures they’ll be better.

The car itself feels solid and we’ve been good on reliability. There are areas we can improve on - but we’re taking it one step at a time and each step so far has been forwards, not backwards, so it’s been quite positive.

"

Red Bull's Daniil Kyvat couldn't quite capture the same success of team-mate Ricciardo on Day 3, finishing sixth but also managing to break the 100-lap barrier with 104 of his own.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri bottas of Williams were almost evenly split in their Day 3 pursuits, driving for 55 and 49 laps in the morning and after noon sessions, respectively.