Bottas quickest on wet fourth morning of F1 testing

The snow may have cleared, but conditions were still far from ideal as the fourth and final day of the opening pre-season test got underway in Barcelona on Thursday.

However, with time to make up after a near write-off on Wednesday, there was plenty of action as the drivers fitted wet tyres to their cars and headed out onto a damp, foggy track.

The lunch break was once again shelved to allow teams to make full use of track time, and by the normal 1.00pm stopping point the track had dried to the extent that times began to tumble rapidly as drivers ventured out on slick tyres for the first time.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was the man with his nose just in front, though only after trading fastest lap times with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.

In terms of mileage, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson had completed the most laps, that despite the Swede causing a red flag when he spun at Turn 2 and got beached in the gravel.