Phil Mance: what does "Get omvp;ved" mean?

It means it's time for another coffee!

Joe Fathers: Why are people talking about a separate championship for women... That isn't a solution! Just needs a team to take on a female driver... i thought @WilliamsRacing, external were going to get it done with @Susie_Wolff, external but not quite!

Andrew Douglas: Sep. Male and female championships sends the wrong message. Introduce gender quota, each team with one male and one female driver?

Inge: Though I am a woman, I think that this type of forced regulations (sort of positive discrimination) never work well. They just create frustration. Let women fight at the same footing with men, or in a sep. champ, like in many other sports.

Image source, Getty Images

A couple of personal bests for today as Carlos Sainz does a 1:20.234 while Lance Stroll clocks 1:20.276. The pair are 12th and 13th respectively.

Stoffel Vandoorne continues to increase his lap tally, up to 71 now. We may well see the McLaren pass 100 for the day.

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Ferrari is doing a Saturday/Sunday simulation today. So it was qualifying mode to set that fast time this morning.

Now he is in the middle of a race sim, with about 28 laps to go.

Anthony Steele: Excellent idea from Philip V there regarding all female championship, like it. I'd definitely tune in and support that.

Bob McFeil: On what Philip V said (see 14:23), if we wanted women to race, wouldn’t we put them in the same competition as the men? It’s been done before...

Chris Marsh: What about a mixed doubles F1 Championship? Every pit stop the driver changes and Quali times are an average of the two drivers times.

Philip V: Just a thought... but why isn't there a women's F1 championship, like there is the LET/LPGA for golf and Women's football leagues. If teams are reluctant to bring through female drivers then Liberty Media could set up a championship to encourage more women into the sport.

Just Callum: I agree with Toto, there will be a female world champion in our generation! I hope it comes sooner rather than later, strides have been made in F1 around female drivers, but more must be done still! I'd support any female driver!

Nothing in the way of improvements with race simulations very much the focus of the teams' programmes this afternoon.

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Image source, .

Nico Hulkenberg turned 79 laps in the Renault R.S.18 and was third quickest in the morning session. He stopped off to meet the fans before talking to the media.

“Luckily, Melbourne is to too far away and we finally go racing again!” he said.

“I feel positive. We managed in this week to collect a lot of miles and data. We have pretty much successfully gone through our programme, which is not always that normal in testing. So it has been good so far.

"From the mileage and data we collected we will build a much better knowledge about the car and our understanding of the car, and also for development during the season.”

Lex: A few teams seem to be switching to mediums, nothing special has happened on them yet, is that likely to change? Probably not.

Bob McFeil: I think this is the problem with McLaren. They are the loose cannon and have rarely had a perfect session for a few years now.

And here's the proof.

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The track is busying up. Everyone apart from Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz are out there at the moment.

I always worry a tad when McLaren spend more than 15 minutes off the circuit, but Stoffel Vandoorne is among those back on the track.

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton is on the move, slightly. He's up to 11th after a personal best for the day of 1:20.068, taking him above Lance Stroll.

Sebastian Vettel hits 100 laps for the day, the first driver to do so after Valtteri Bottas stopped three short just before lunch.

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Image source, .

After Sebastian Vettel headed into the Ferrari hospitality unit his fans waited for him outside.

Image source, F1.com

Vettel, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Vandoorne, Ericsson, Perez - hypersoft

Magnussen, Kubica - supersoft

Verstappen, Sainz, Stroll - soft

Bottas, Hamilton - medium

Carlos Sainz is on softs, as you can see from the below video, and he gets himself on the timing board with a 1:21.281.

He's propping up the times at the moment, with fellow afternoon arrivals Lewis Hamilton (1:20.550) and Lance Stroll (1:20.422) just above him.