Loads of views on this. Many thanks. Keep them coming.

Well that's a bit more like it. 

Romain Grosjean has just gone out in the Haas on intermediates and knocked three whole seconds off the quickest time. 

The benchmark moves to 1:32.946 - still some 10 seconds off dry-running pace.  

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Mercedes did a total of 490 laps – 7.4 grand prix distances – in the first three days of the test, but the car has yet to be seen on track today because of an electrical problem.

Lewis Hamilton said yesterday he was not all that keen to drive the car on a wet track.

“I might fake a pulled muscle in the morning and let Valtteri do it!” he quipped.

On a more serious note, he said: “It’s been a great test so far for the team. Everyone at the factory has worked so hard as you can imagine to create a car that obviously does the distance.

“As always in these test days we are trying to get through as much as possible, in terms of reliability. The great thing is today I got my first race run done, which was no problem at all, so training has worked really well, which I’m super happy about.

“Otherwise the car is running very smoothly and we are just trying to, bit by bit, chip away at different set ups, items, just to tick boxes off. I hope that it continues this way."

Just one car on track now. Giovinazzi's Sauber. 

Just a reminder that the fastest time at present is a 1:36.041 set by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Of the six cars to have set a time, all have done so on the intermediates except McLaren's Vandoorne, who has been absent from the track for a while. 

No word yet on what issues - if any - are taking place at McLaren. 

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Wednesday was a better day for McLaren-Honda, in the sense that Fernando Alonso was at least able to do a decent amount of laps - 72, to be precise. But the good news ends there. 

He was only 10th fastest overall, 2.8secs slower than Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on the same ultra-soft tyre and 2.6secs off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari, which was on the soft. Tyre-correct the times and Alonso was just over four seconds - yes, four - off the Ferrari and Mercedes. 

What is wrong? Well, people watching out on track reported that the car looked a bit of a handful but the they are also slowest of all in the speed traps at the finish line and the end of the straight. 

This is not the Melbourne-spec engine, nor car, but the same can be said for everyone else. Already things are looking bleak for a team for whom the glory days are not only a long way behind, but also seem to be a long way ahead.

I've just simulated this in my head and it would be awesome for the most part. 

However, blasting out the tunnel the wrong way and then diving into Portier could be a touch hairy/lethal.

And starting the race with a dive into Anthony Noghes could be a little bit of a squeeze...

Giovinazzi briefly goes top of the timesheets for Sauber with an inter-shod 1:37.439, before Raikkonen's Ferrari blasts through moments later to shave off another second. 

Dry lines emerging all over the place now. 

The Renault of Nico Hulkenberg leaps to the top of the pile on the intermediate tyre. 

A 1:38.107.

Somewhere, a Pirelli engineer nods sagely and scratches a note in his ledger.

Somewhere else, an F1 live text commentator stares blankly ahead, scratching his navel, wondering what to make of it all. 

Image source, Getty Images

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

With the exception of the shade cast by the main grandstand, the entire track is in the sunlight and drying. How much longer will it be until the track is too dry for the wet tyres the drivers are using now?

Max Verstappen is trying to learn as much as he can. He tried a practice start at pit exit where the track surface is wet.

Image source, Dan Knutson

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Red Bull have had a low-key test so far, with a few reliability niggles, and there or thereabouts in the times but nothing special. And Daniel Ricciardo has made it clear he feels there is work still to do. “I’m excited for the new year,” he said, pleased to get some decent running after a truncated first day. “

The cars look cool. I feel today we just touched the surface with the car. There were some corners where I could feel more downforce, and you could lean on it a bit more. I feel like that there is a lot more in it, so I am excited to see the progress of it, and to understand it and get the most out of it.  

That's dark, Tom.

Max Verstappen is the first driver to make the switch to intermediate tyres on the drying track. 

The Red Bull man does a 1:38.286 to go quickest. 

Mercedes have said on social media that they are "investigating an electrical fault this morning", hence their absence from the track.

Apropos of nothing, how do you do that chin-scratch emoji thing again?

Lewis Hamilton has called for the iconic Monaco Grand Prix to be revamped as part of F1's promised revolution, the Daily Mail reports., external

"You can't keep doing the same format at Monaco because you can't overtake there," Hamilton said. "So maybe they need to spice it up and do something different – maybe a sprint race.

"The Monaco race should be different from the others."

As it's a bit of a quiet one on the track today, I'd love to get your views on this.

Personally, if they touch a hair on the Monaco Grand Prix's immaculate head I might just rage out and take a few innocent bystanders down with me.

However, that's just me.

What do you think?

#bbcf1 please.

Image source, Getty Images