Third day of second F1 test
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Trouble-free day for McLaren
Image source, Circuit de Barcelona-CatalunyaThe driver line up has now been confirmed. Only thing to add from what I posted a little earlier is that Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Lance Stroll (Williams) and Carlos Sainz (Renault) will replace their team-mates for this afternoon.
Although Kayleigh, that would result in me missing out on £1,000 pounds.
I'm conflicted.
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Kayleigh: I’m going to try the positive thinking thing. McLaren aren’t going to break down today. McLaren are going to hit 100 laps. Gary will get a lunch break! Has it worked?
So far so good, Kayleigh!
Point to prove?
First decent time of the morning is set by McLaren as Stoffel Vandoorne clocks 1:20.647.
He's on those hypersofts again, however.
I make this today's driver line up:
Mercedes Bottas
Ferrari Vettel
Red Bull Verstappen
McLaren Vandoorne
Force India Perez
Williams Kubica
Haas Magnussen
Sauber Ericsson
Renault Hulkenberg
Toro Rosso Gasly
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Robert Kubica is also in the Williams this morning. He's just popped out on the track for the first time, joining Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.
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Dan Wilcox: If you were given £1000 least you could take your own lunch break and not worry about it, along with buying some for McLaren whilst there car is stopped...again! Hopefully a better day for the orange machine!
I like your thinking!
Having to play guess the driver at the moment because some of the drivers going out this morning are not the one's named on the line up I had.
Stoffel Vandoorne is definitely in the McLaren and he has gone out for an installation lap. Lots of flo-viz pain on the car, making it look very funky.
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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Image source, .Two days of pre-season testing to go, and the latest man to set the pace in Barcelona was Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull on Wednesday. That’s the quickest time on two of the days he has been in the car for the Australian, and he is optimistic of a good season.
“We will still work on a few weaknesses but generally it does not feel too bad. Mercedes are still quick - if everything was equal right now they still have a little bit on the rest - but I don’t think it is too big. So it seems positive.”
He added: “I still don’t know where Ferrari are, I’m quite confident Mercedes is probably just in front of us but Ferrari I’m not sure. But I think we’re going to be much closer than last year.”
Yep, he was tired.
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It was a very productive day for Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo as the Australian finished with the fastest time in testing so far and the fastest time recorded at this circuit in its current layout.
Ricciardo clocked 1:18.047 on the hypersoft and also completed the most laps with 165.
I bet he was tired after that.
Image source, .Brian Langhoff: Morning, would give best odds on you getting the 1000 quid.
The green flag is being waved which means one thing - we're under way.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
McLaren’s struggles are fast developing into the story of the pre-season. They may yet turn into one of the stories of the season itself, because right now the car looks both unreliable and slow. But after finishing his truncated day on Wednesday, Fernando Alonso was making light of the issues.
“All the important parts on the programme we did in the morning,” he said. “The rest of the day was more about long runs and putting laps but I am not too stressed about the laps we lost.”
He said he had a “very good feeling, very positive, the car felt great all week last week and this morning as well”.
He emphasised that problems were normal in testing - saying that the only difference is the media attention these tests now get.
“I am happy when problems happen in testing,” he said. “We learn a lot and we are lucky all the problems are minor issues and don’t need any issues on the philosophy of the car. More laps the next two days but more for fun than performance. Obviously there is a lot of media attention but for us it is a normal day.” As for the performance, Alonso said: “We are ready and we are quite competitive.”
Is this just bluster, a smokescreen? Time will tell.
Another day, another breakdown for McLaren on Wednesday.
It started off with such promise as Fernando Alonso rattled off lap after lap and at one stage had the fastest time - albeit having set in the hypersoft tyres - but then he came to a stop on the circuit.
And we didn't see him again for over six hours.
That was the third breakdown in two days for McLaren, but are we making a fuss about nothing? Alonso certainly thinks so.
Good morning!
Welcome along to day three of the final pre-season test.
I'm hoping for three things today:
1) A lunch break
2) To randomly be given a thousand pounds
3) McLaren not to break down
If just two of those three come off, I'll be a happy man.
Image source, EPA