McLaren have dropped to the bottom of the timesheet but are still out there. 

Time for another vintage Fernando Alonso thumbs up picture, I think...

1) Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) - 1:19.885 - ultra-softs

2) Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 1:20.110 - softs

3) Lance Stroll (Williams) - 1:20.335 -softs

4) Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) - 1:21.311 - softs

5) Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) - 1:21.891 - mediums

6) Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) - 1:22.254 - supersofts

7) Sergio Perez (Force India) - 1:22.622 - mediums

8) Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) - 1:22.638 - softs

9) Romain Grosjean (Haas) - 1:22.670 - softs

10) Fernando Alonso (McLaren) -1:22.731 - ultrasofts

Image source, .

Yes, you can have a mention and yes, Andrew Benson is a god. Fortunately one of those nice ones and not a malevolent one.

F1 journalist Dan Knutson in Barcelona: The Haas team plans to do a race simulation with Romain Grosjean this afternoon. 

 “For sure we will try to do a full race distance with Romain, who hasn’t done as much driving, so we need to try and get as many laps in as possible,” said team principal Guenther Steiner. 

Grosjean got in 23 laps before going off. The car is now back in the garage. 

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

It has been a difficult pre-season for Toro Rosso, afflicted both by the ongoing reliability problems with the hybrid system on the new Renault engine and their own niggles. But finally on Thursday Daniil Kvyat got some decent running in, completing 94 laps, setting fourth fastest time and giving a good impression of the car, which looks set to be somewhere near the front of what is expected to be a hit midfield battle behind the big three. “I’m pleased with today,” Kvyat said. “It’s the first time I can say I’ve really had some fun out there this year! It was good to be able to complete so many laps.” That's it for the Russian now. Next stop Melbourne.

Seventeen laps so far this morning for Carlos Sainz, who has the eighth quickest time so far.

He's back at base at the moment as Toro Rosso do some tinkering.

Max Verstappen has come out to play and his first timed effort sees him up into second as he does 1:20.221 on softs.

Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg is continuing to see what pace he can get out of the ultra-softs as he improves his benchmark time with 1:19.885.

Sebastian Vettel was eight tenths quicker on the ultra-softs yesterday so there's more to come from the leading pack.

Maybe they've got little spikes on them, Richard.

Something like this?

(Bonus Pastor Maldonado image)

Image source, Google

Richard Monk: What are unmarked tyres? Development tyres? Kinder Surprise tyres (other prize eggs are available)? Or sleepy pit exit journalist? 

The Haas has been shifted so we are green again. 

Let's crack on.

While we wait for Romain Grosjean's Haas to be lifted away and the kitty litter to be tidied up, here's something Tom Ruzyllo on Twitter has brought to my attention -  https://www.hasmclarenbrokendown.com/, external

There really is a website for everything, isn't there?

Image source, .

It looks like Romain Grosjean went for a spin at Turn 5 and ended up beaching his Haas. 

Go go recovery vehicle. 

Red flagpublished at 09:32 Greenwich Mean Time 10 March 2017

09:32 GMT 10 March 2017

First red flag of the day.

Romain Grosjean is in the gravel.

Meanwhile, there's been some improvements at the top of the order. Nico Hulkenberg has stuck some ultra-softs on his Renault and lowered the benchmark with 1:20.248.

Valtteri Bottas is up to second after 1:21.678 - his first effort on the soft compound this morning.

No issues yet, Stuie, let's mark it with some vintage Fernando Alonso thumbs up action.

Image source, .

Stuie Neale: Last day of testing i wonder if mclaren can actually have a incident free day  

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Red Bull have looked more or less on the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari through most of pre-season testing. But that all changed on Thursday, when Daniel Ricciardo did a race-simulation  run at the same time as Sebastian Vettel and was a second a lap slower than the Ferrari on average. 

“I wish we were sandbagging a bit more, but today we weren’t quick,” the Australian said. “I would say day one of this week’s test we looked more competitive, sure, I would say we were probably within 0.2-0.3secs of the pace. Today it was a lot more. So our true pace is closer but we are not quite on their level at the moment. We  can get there but we are not there yet.” 

Ricciardo blamed the pace loss on “probably getting a bit lost on some set-up things”  and expressed confidence that “we will get there”.