F1 Pre-Season Testing 2017: Friday Times and Analysis from Barcelona

McLaren endured further woes as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen set the quickest lap of Formula One testing so far on the final day of pre-season action in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday.

After his team-mate Sebastian Vettel set the benchmark with a lap of one minute, 19.024 seconds on Thursday, the Finn broke the 1:19 barrier for the first time as he registered a blistering 1:18.634.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso drew a red flag twice on Friday morning as his McLaren drew to a halt on the track, continuing a terrible eight days of testing for the Spaniard and his team.

Here is what the timesheet looked like after Friday's proceedings at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, per the FIA:

"

#F1 Kimi Raikkonen ends the last day of #F1Testing at @Circuitcat_eng on top for @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/Fm6v49vGHh

— FIA (@fia) March 10, 2017"

Friday Recap

Ferrari have looked impressive throughout testing, and there were suspicions on Thursday that Vettel could have posted a faster lap and was hiding the true pace of his car, per Autosport Live:

On Friday, Raikkonen continued Ferrari's good form and hinted at there being some genuine competition for Mercedes this year when the first race of the season gets under way in Melbourne, Australia, on March 26.

Not only did the 2007 world champion don the supersoft tyres to grab the fastest lap of anyone during the eight days of pre-season action, but he also showed excellent pace on the soft compound, per Motorsport Week:

No other driver came close to Raikkonen on Friday, as Max Verstappen placed second in his Red Bull with a lap of 1:19.438.

Meanwhile, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz produced an excellent lap to place third, and fifth-placed Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed a fine session as he set Renault's fastest lap in testing so far with a 1:19.885.

Away from those at the top of the timesheet, it was an incident-packed morning session that included four stoppages for a red flag.

Romain Grosjean drew the first and last of them in his Haas, but most notably, McLaren endured more trouble.

Charles Coates/Getty Images

The day started passably for Alonso as he briefly moved to second in the standings with an early 1:22.731.

But his car then drew to a stop on the track at Turn 9 and had to be recovered, before a repeat not even a lap after McLaren had got Alonso back on track—this time he stopped at Turn 4.

Per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, McLaren confirmed an electrical problem was the issue.

Ferrari are the team to watch as the season explodes into life, but Mercedes have appeared consistently fast as they test the pace of their vehicle.

After the retirement of Nico Rosberg, former team-mate Lewis Hamilton will be the favourite to lift the world title, but Vettel and Raikkonen will be trying to roll back the years as they challenge.