Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

It’s dangerous to read too much into lap times in testing - especially this early, when no-one is running for performance. 

That said, the Ferrari is looking good at this stage. Kimi Raikkonen was fastest of all on Tuesday, after Sebastian Vettel was second to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on Monday. In both cases, if you take into account the length of the run - and therefore calculate the offset for the minimum amount of fuel that must have been in the car - and look at the tyre compound, the Ferrari was the quickest car. 

But there are still too many variables to take that comparison seriously at this stage - track condition, temperature, actual fuel load, engine mode etc. Even the tyre off-set is not completely clear yet.

Image source, Reuters

Red flagpublished at 08:30 Greenwich Mean Time 1 March 2017

08:30 GMT 1 March 2017

Renault's Jolyon Palmer is in the gravel trap at turn three.

Just to bring you up to speed with what the cars are doing. 

Well, three of the blighters have set times so far - Vettel's Ferrari (1:27.789), Bottas' Mercedes (1:28.537) and Celis' Force India (1:44.478).

All sedate, all sighters, not a huge amount to read into them.  

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

The big story of the first two days of pre-season testing is undoubtedly the travails of McLaren-Honda. Major reliability problems have kept their running to just under 70 laps. Mercedes have done more than four times that. And the pace of the McLaren car - undoubtedly affected by running the engine detuned - has been lamentable. 

By the time everyone went home on Tuesday evening, there was still no pubic answer as to what had gone wrong with Stoffel Vandoorne’s engine in the morning which meant it needed changing - the second engine change in as many days.

“The last two days were difficult for us,” Vandoorne said on Tuesday evening, “but hopefully overnight we can analyse what went wrong and come back with a reliable car. This was my first day of testing, Fernando didn’t get many laps in yesterday, so tomorrow and after tomorrow are going to be important days for us. We’re going try to make the most out of every situation.”

Alonso is back in the car for Wednesday. Will the team finally get some decent running? They need it, of that there is no doubt.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's that run down of today's drivers in full: 

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) - morning only 

Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

Alfonso Celis Jr (Force India, test driver)

Lance Stroll (Williams) 

Fernando Alonso (McLaren)

Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) - morning only

Romain Grosjean (Haas)

Jolyon Palmer (Renault)

Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)    

Mercedes have just posted a video of Nico Rosberg in the team garage, watching Valtteri Bottas drive away in the all-conquering car that he could have been sat in right now. 

I respect the man's decision and all that but, wow, that is some privileged position he opted to give up. 

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren have suffered a dire start to pre-season testing, with a second consecutive day hit by major problems with Honda's new engine.

Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne completed only 40 laps - just 11 more than team-mate Fernando Alonso on Monday.

With a quarter of pre-season testing gone, McLaren have completed 69 slow laps. Mercedes have done more than 300.

Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari was fastest on Tuesday, from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and Max Verstappen's Red Bull.

Vandoorne finished the day 10th fastest of 11 drivers and 4.6 seconds off the pace.

Read more from Andrew Benson.

F1 rookie Stroll managed just 12 laps yesterday before a spin caused damage that could not be repaired without new parts being shipped in overnight. Felipe Massa had been due to drive the FW40 today.

Off we go again.

Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes are straight on it.

We'll give you today's full driver line-up shortly.

Hello and welcome along to day three of pre-season testing from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. 

We've had plenty of action to get our teeth into over the first two days, with Ferrari and Mercedes looking both quick and reliable, Red Bull not far behind, and the Haas showing a good turn of pace. 

And then there's McLaren, where big improvements are needed.

Will today be a better day for them? We'll know soon enough. 

Image source, Getty Images