Kimi Raikkonen set the quickest time on the final morning of the opening Formula 1 pre-season test, after a late run for Ferrari on the new ultra soft Pirelli tyre.
The Finnish driver spent a busy morning completing runs on numerous tyre compounds, lowing his benchmark to a 1:23.477 in the final 25 minutes at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Raikkonen managed to lap the Spanish track 58 times in the four-hour session; finishing 1.8 seconds clear of Kevin Magnussen. The Renault driver spent a large chunk of the morning at the top of the leaderboard after an encouraging session at the wheel of the RS16.
The former McLaren racer put in his best time of a 1:25.263 on the soft tyre mid-way through the morning and lapped the track 67 times. Max Verstappen improved to third but was just under two seconds off Raikkonen’s best lap.
Daniil Kvyat was fourth in the morning for Red Bull Racing, during his second day at the wheel of the RB12. He managed 57 laps, seven more than Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian was fifth for Sauber in the updated 2015 car.
Lewis Hamilton spent most of the morning session completing longer runs, with Mercedes focusing on reliability rather than fast times.
The British driver, who hands over to team-mate Nico Rosberg for the afternoon, was sixth in the W07 – which ran with a new nose design – with a best time of 1:26.295. In total he clocked up 99 laps.
Alfonso Celis Jr returned to the cockpit of the Force India VJM09 and was seventh at the end of the morning, on the medium tyre. Rio Haryanto ended the session 8th in the Manor MRT05 after 43 laps. Felipe Massa spent some time completing aero evaluations but did eventually lower his benchmark to a 1:28.684.
Esteban Gutierrez enjoyed another encouraging morning and was ninth, around 5.5 seconds off the front-running pace. He managed 26 laps in the VF-16.
Fernando Alonso failed to get much running in with the McLaren MP4-31, lapping the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya just three times in the morning due to woes with the new car. He was the only driver without a timed lap as teams stopped for lunch.
Pre-season testing – Test 1 – Day 4 Morning Times:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Tyre | Laps |
1 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:23.477 | 0.351 |
|
58 |
2 | K. Magnussen | Renault | 1:25.263 | 1.786 |
|
67 |
3 | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:25.393 | 1.916 |
|
73 |
4 | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:25.900 | 2.423 |
|
57 |
5 | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:26.053 | 2.576 |
|
50 |
6 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:26.295 | 2.818 |
|
96 |
7 | A. Celis | Force India | 1:26.875 | 3.398 |
|
36 |
8 | R. Haryanto | Manor | 1:28.266 | 4.789 |
|
43 |
9 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:28.684 | 5.207 |
|
33 |
10 | E. Gutierrez | Haas | 1:29.088 | 5.611 |
|
26 |