Jolyon Palmer has just popped into third place in the soft-tyre-shod Renault. A 1:21.396.  

Mercedes are enjoying this. 

They've popped on the lesser-spotted ultrasofts now and Bottas has duly returned a 1:19.705.   

Daniel Ricciardo is now second fastest in the RB13 with a 1;21.153. He's out there on soft tyres.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Nico Rosberg has posted a video on Twitter of his reflections after spending a couple of hours at the first pre-season test. 

It's worth a watch., external

Highlights are that he says the cars are "going to take the drivers to the limit". 

"Even now, they're hurting bad. All of them. And that's how it should be". 

He added that he experienced not a single regret about his decision to quit. 

"There was not one moment when I thought, 'that should be me in that car', so it was interesting to realise that. And perfect."

Image source, @nico_rosberg

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

There has been a great deal of discussion about whether overtaking will be harder in 2017, with cars that go around corners faster, have more drag so are slower on the straight, and therefore have shorter braking distances. 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen played down these concerns, though. “Well, I have done some, so it is OK, it works, you can overtake with the car,” he said.

Cheers Fabi. Yes, this is the figure we need to keep in mind. You suspect Massa's time from nine years ago is going to be seriously under threat as this test goes on.

Ladies and gents, we have ducked below 1:20s for the first time this week. 

On the supersoft tyres, Valtteri Bottas pumps in a 1:19.838 for Mercedes.

Over to you, Ferrari

We'd better do another one of these as times are tumbling all over the place, with improvements for Ericsson, Palmer, Stroll, Ricciardo and Celis.  

So, here goes....

1. Bottas, Mercedes - 1:20.107 (50 laps) Soft   

2. Vettel, Ferrari - 1:21.609 (44) Medium 

3. Ericsson, Sauber - 1:22.326 (34) Soft  

4. Stroll, Williams 1:22.351 (26)  Soft  

5. Ricciardo, Red Bull - 1:22.382 (25 Soft   

6. Palmer, Renault - 1:23.387 (21) Medium  

7. Alonso, McLaren - 1:23.956 (19) Soft  

8. Kvyat, Toro Rosso - 1:24.190 (21) Medium 

9. Celis Jr, Force India - 1:25.524 (17) Soft  

10. Grosjean, Haas - 1:25.898 (11) Medium 

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Valtteri Bottas' time of 1:20.107 is the fastest of the test so far - beating Kimi Raikkonen's best on Tuesday by 0.853 seconds. Raikkonen's time was set on a short run of only three timed laps and Bottas' was a similar length. 

He's come back in, changed tyres and not refuelled, though, so it is clearly still not an out-and-out qualifying run.  

That's some food for thought, to say the least.  

Image source, AP

A big lap from Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas a few moments ago, that 1:20.107 is the best of the week.

Just under 90 minutes remain in this session.

1. Bottas, Mercedes - 1:20.107 (47 laps) Soft   

2. Vettel, Ferrari - 1:21.609 (44) Medium 

3. Ericsson, Sauber - 1:22.636 (31) Soft    

4. Stroll, Williams 1:23.305 (22)  Soft

5. Alonso, McLaren - 1:23.956 (18) Soft  

6. Kvyat, Toro Rosso - 1:24.190 (21) Medium 

7. Palmer, Renault - 1:25.002 (15) Medium

8. Grosjean, Haas - 1:25.898 (11) Medium 

9. Ricciardo, Red Bull - 1:28.332 (17) Soft 

10. Celis Jr, Force India - 1:39.293 (12) Supersoft

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

The reigning and retired world champion Nico Rosberg has been talking to the TV crews here in the paddock.

“It’s good to be back,” Nico Rosberg said, “first of all to see my racing family, and it is such a massive hype at the moment, so I want to see first-hand as well, see the new cars – they look absolutely monstrous, very, very impressive. 

“Everybody is excited – it is great to see the drivers loving it. They need to be gladiators out there because the cars will take them to their physical limits. We might even see drivers losing race wins just because of being [overwhelmed] physically.”

As for Mercedes, Rosberg commented: “I expected the team to be the best this year because the team is awesome. I am not saying that that is the case, we still need to wait and see, but for sure it is going to be a quick car.”

Image source, .

Image source, .

Image source, Autosport

Tip o' the hat to the Autosport guys for this sage observation. 

We are all Sauber*

*now that Minardi don't exist.

This is not a drill. 

Very decent effort from the Swiss team. A 1:22.636 on the soft tyre for Marcus Ericsson. 

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Max Verstappen was third fastest for Red Bull behind Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton yesterday - second fastest if you corrected only for tyres and fuel - and sounded optimistic after a difficult first day for team-mate Daniel Ricciardo on Monday.

“We haven’t done any km before, we had little issues,” he said on Tuesday evening. “But today was actually very positive for us, so I am happy about today.” 

Verstappen said he had “good impressions” of the car. “We have done a lot of mileage and that was our goal, to test all the parts. We did that today and that is the most important.

“The speed difference compared to the cars of last year is a good step, so it is more enjoyable through the fast corners. You have a lot more traction. that was very difficult last year to find a good compromise for that to have good exit out of the corners, but with such wide tires and big tires that is a lot better now. Of course it is more demanding but that is what we train for in the winter so you have to be up for it.”