By Adam Tate, Managing Editor
Day three at Barcelona has been the most note worthy yet, with a large shakeup in the order that saw Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India top the time sheets ahead of Romain Grosjean in the new Haas VF-16.
Hulkenberg ran quickest most of the day, progressing from medium on to soft and super soft tires, setting a time just 3/10th’s off Sebastian Vettel’s time on the ultra-softs from yesterday.
Grosjean set his time of 1:25.874 on the soft tires, pushing the Haas VF-16 hard for the first time in the test.
Ferrari wasn’t knocked off its perch atop the time sheets by sheer speed of its rivals however. Kimi Raikkonen on his first day at the test spent most of it in the garage as the team fixed a fuel system issue. He eventually managed 77 laps en route to the third best time of the day.
Mercedes continued to log the miles with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg doing long controlled runs throughout the day, amassing another 161 laps for the W07 chassis.
There was little drama throughout the days running, other than a red flag for Rio Haryanto who spun his Manor and minor break downs for Jenson Button’s McLaren, Kevin Magnussen’s Renault and Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso.
The fourth and final day of the first test begins tomorrow morning, with the second test scheduled to begin next Monday.
| Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:23.110 | 99 |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:25.874 | 82 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:25.977 | 77 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:26.014 | 111 |
| Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.084 | 74 |
| Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:26.239 | 161 |
| Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:26.392 | 115 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:26.421 | 87 |
| Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:26.497 | 74 |
| Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:26.712 | 109 |
| Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:26.919 | 51 |
