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Dan: He should retire and become the world's leading deck chair retailer.  

Forty minutes into the session and everyone has had a couple of laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya now apart from Kevin Magnussen. He's made one appearance in the Haas and is back in the garage at the moment.

Stoffel Vandoorne is back out and he's got the rather unflattering aero rakes attached to the rear of his McLaren.

Meanwhile, Lance Stroll gets on the timing board for the first time today as the teenager does 1:25.944 in the Williams on soft tyres.

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Patrick McLaughlin: Take over at @Arsenal, external They could do with his will to win.   

Derek Hourigan: head back to Renault, they'll be back among the big boys next year.  

CTR Paul: It's not what #whatshouldalonsodo, external rather #whatalonshouldhavedone, external and that was to get the Mercedes seat when they called.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Valtteri Bottas caused a stir on Wednesday with the fastest lap of the winter so far in the Mercedes. But perhaps his mark of one minute 19.310 was not quite as good as it looked. For one thing, it was on the super-soft tyres. They are reckoned to be 0.6-0.7secs quicker than the softs, so correcting just for the tyres, that makes the lap equivalent to a 19.9 or 20.0 on softs. And Sebastian Vettel did a 19.9 in the Ferrari during the first test week on that tyre.

Correct Vettel’s lap for the length of the run (ie for the minimum amount of fuel that must have been on board) and it was a 19.85. One Lewis Hamilton did on the same day was a 19.84. Do the same to Bottas’ lap and it was a 19.85 or 19.95, depending on which correction you add for the tyres.

Equally, Felipe Massa - second quickest overall on the ultra-soft on Wednesday - did a 1:19.9 on the softs just before his fastest lap. No-one - not even Massa - expects the Williams to match the Mercedes on pure pace. So, yes, Bottas did a lap that was there or thereabouts with the best of the winter - and there is almost certainly a lot more to come from that silver car.

Lewis Hamilton, who set his pacesetting time on the supersoft tyre, pits as Sebastian Vettel goes second quickest with a 1:21.486 on supersofts.

We've also had times from Esteban Ocon and and Daniil Kvyat, with Ocon - on unmarked tyres - doing a 1:25.362 and Kvyat clocking 1:28.159 on supersofts.

All going to plan so far for McLaren this morning. Stoffel Vandoorne has been out for a lap and is back in the garage now.

Walkaway is an absolute tune, by the way.

Just back to my entry at 08:20 GMT, it's not Lewis Hamilton's fastest lap of winter testing. I'm forgetting he did 1:20.456 on Tuesday.

Still, a strong start to the day by the triple world champion.

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If I worked for McLaren, I'd be making sure that there are no songs by 90s scruffy-haired indie band Cast on the garage mixtape...

Jonathan Dunn: If McLaren are poor this year Fernando should walk away. Go to WEC or such. Nobody else will have a decent seat free realistically.  

Blaise TerHar:  Deserves better than Honda are delivering. Alonso took a leap of faith and has been left falling.

Yowzer! 

No messing about from Lewis Hamilton. We've not even got half an hour on the clock and the Briton goes and does his fastest lap in testing so far - a 1:20.686.

This comes after his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas clocked the fastest time of winter yesterday.

Mercedes just casually tossing the gauntlet to the floor there.

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton/Valtteri Bottas

Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo

Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel

Williams: Lance Stroll/Felipe Massa

McLaren: Stoffel Vandoorne

Force India: Esteban Ocon

Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat

Sauber: Marcus Ericsson

Haas: Kevin Magnussen

Renault: Jolyon Palmer/Nico Hulkenberg

Right then. We've had several drivers pop out and back in for an installation lap - Jolyon Palmer, Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton among them.

Hamilton then re-emerges and proceeds to put the first time on the board - a 1:26.800. That won't stay as the benchmark for long.

It seems Fernando Alonso can't catch a break. 

Undoubtedly one of the most - if not the most - talented drivers on the grid yet his last world title was in 2006. ELEVEN years ago. He came close a couple of times after that but since 2014 he's just moved further and further away from the top of the order.

Is he one of the unluckiest drivers in Formua 1? Do you sympathise with his latest frustrations and what should he do? Buckle down and get on with it or maybe even walk away from the sport?

Let us know via #whatshouldalonsodo  or text in on 81111 (UK only)

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Fernando Alonso was not pulling his punches after testing on Wednesday, saying the Honda engine had “no performance and no reliability”. 

Did the scale of the problem feel more like 2015, Honda’s first season, or 2016, he was asked? 

“I think similar to last year to be honest,” he said. “2015 probably we were even [further] behind than now. Probably this year is a little bit more frustrating because of the change in the regulations and things like that. You have higher hopes, and you think that you can close that gap over the winter.”

He said he was feeling good himself - as good as ever - and that the car felt “good and under control”, adding: “Nothing to worry for Australia, I guess, because the team will be ready to compete at a good level and the only question mark is how much power we will have.”

The green light just flicked on at the end of the pit lane and the third day of testing is under way.

Good morning!

There's just two more days of testing left to go and while it feels like Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are merely adjusting the fluffy dice on their mirrors and the nodding dog's position on their dashboard, there's still so much left for McLaren to do.

Testing has been blighted by a number of issues for the team that has seen them have to make several engine changes and, although they had a better day on the track yesterday, time - and Fernando Alonso's patience - is running out.

Last night I witnessed one of the greatest comebacks I've seen in sport as Barcelona beat Paris St-Germain in the Champions League.

The Spanish side came back from a seemingly impossible position, upsetting the odds when all seemed lost to prove that almost anything, no matter how improbable, can happen.

So, with that in mind, McLaren and Fernando Alonso to win the world championship this year...?

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