Steven McMurtrie: Name three F1 drivers with a Scottish town in their name.

A. STIRLING Moss, Lewis HAMILTON and …… wait for it ………. AYR Town Centre!

Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

The resurfaced Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is playing a major role in the falling lap times.

“The biggest difference compared to last year is the tarmac,” Pirelli’s sporting director Mario Isola said during a media briefing this afternoon. “It has completely different properties compared to the old one. The old one was quite abrasive with a lot of degradation, a lot of wear, and suitable for the harder compound.

“This tarmac is much smoother, but with a very good level of grip. That means that we have less degradation and less wear because the tarmac is smooth, but the level of grip is good.

“It is difficult to tell you how much is coming from the tarmac, and how much from the cars. For sure the new cars, the 2018 generation of cars, are a good step quicker that 2017. We can see that from the data, from the downforce, from the load that we have on the tyres.”

Image source, Dan Knutson

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Just over ONE hour remaining of testing. The power hour for the teams to get in their final bit of data gathering and tinkering before it all begins for real in Australia at the end of the month.

It has taken him ages to do, but Carlos Sainz has moved up the times, his lap of 1:19.913 takes his above Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc up to ninth, and then his next lap is faster still at 1:19.345 and that jumps him over Lewis Hamilton to eighth.

Paul Barlass: Why do Marcus Erricson and Charles Leclerc never get to taste the champagne? They always drive Sauber!

Dale Foster: What happened to Grosjean when he slipped in the garage..... he fell on his Haas! Sorry.

Antony Towers: Actually, McLaren look to have a really FAST car. As in Fernando Alonso Stops Trackside.

Image source, Getty Images

Just as I finish writing that round-up, I see that Valtteri Bottas has now jumped up to third. That is the first improvement in quite a while from anyone and his 1:18.923 sees him behind Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.

Image source, Getty Images

Today's times...

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, hyper-soft) 1:17.221 - 134 laps
2. Romain Grosjean (Haas, ultra-soft) 1:18.412 - 132 laps
3. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso, hyper-soft) 1:18.949 - 156 laps
4. Esteban Ocon (Force India, hyper-soft) 1:18.967 - 123 laps
5. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes, medium, pictured) 1:19.001 - 63 laps
6. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams, soft) 1:19.189 - 105 laps
7. Fernando Alonso (McLaren, ultra-soft) 1:19.192 - 50 laps
8. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, super-soft) 1:19.464 - 97 laps
9. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull, medium) 1:20.275 - 71 laps
10. Charles Leclerc (Sauber, ultra-soft) 1:20.379 - 43 laps
11. Lance Stroll (Williams, soft) 1:20.523 -10 laps
12. Carlos Sainz (Renault, ultra-soft) 1:23.240 - eight laps

Image source, Getty Images

And McLaren are not the only ones to have struggled today. Renault have got rid of their "gearbox gremlins" (degremlinisation, apparently) and Carlos Sainz is finally back in action.

He then sets a time of 1:23.240, so everyone who has been out today has set a time.

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Eric Boullier said McLaren would be back to normal and here is Fernando Alonso returning to the track for another stint.

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Dan Knutson
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Fernando Alonso stopped on the track earlier on...

“It was related to the chassis oil leak we had on Tuesday, a consequence,” McLaren’s racing director Eric Boullier said of the problem that halted Fernando Alonso this morning. “This is now under investigation. We have changed the PU so the car is running now.”

During the press conference a reporter asked Boullier about the reliability problems McLaren is having, plus a bungled pit stop yesterday.

“We did eight pit stops live yesterday, seven were good, one was wrong, and this is the only one you refer to, so I am going to refer to the seven good,” Boullier said.

“We want to be competitive; we have an ambitious design. You can see that the car is a little bit different from the other Renault engine cars. So far we had minor issues, but that was because we did not do a good enough job to prepare the car. We are a little bit stretched in terms of lead time and delayed.

“I think very quickly we are going to get back to normal.”

Image source, Dan Knutson

No driving for Stoffel Vandoorne today, but the McLaren man is still watching on.

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Chris Kynoch: What do you call £5 tickets to the Australian GP? O(A)-con. Don’t worry, I’m halfway out the door.

Ian Coates: What do we want? Louder F1 cars! When do we want it? Neeeeeeeooooooooow.

Rick Cook: How does an F1 aerodynamicist create more downforce without the use of a wind tunnel? He just has to wing it.

Mr Pavl‏: Interviewer: The Honda engine looks to have improved massively, that Renault engine must be driving you round the bend? Alonso: No, no it isn’t.

Massive fan of that joke Ian.

Some impressive numbers from Haas. Romain Grosjean has done 110 laps already and is second quickest. 1:18.412 his best.

A good, good day for Haas.

May: A lot of people saying testing shows Mclaren were to blame for last year's woes, but it is worth noting the Honda in the Toro Rosso is not the same engine as last year. Perhaps we can suggest Mclaren's packaging caused reliability issues but even when it worked it was slow.

Matthew Robinson: The midfield seems so much closer this year. Too early to order who’s best from Renault, McLaren, Force India, Williams, Haas to Toro Rosso. Cannot wait for Melbourne.

Robert Sadler: I find it amazing how Renault have an issue with their car, yet there are practically no reports or comments about it, yet McLaren get an issue and it's all over the news and social media. Give them a break!

No timed laps from Renault, remember as Carlos Sainz suffered a gearbox issue early on. Two hours for him to get back out there.

Image source, Getty Images

We have until 17:00 GMT today. And then that's it. We will then see them in Melbourne in two weeks' time.

A difficult day to judge today, as not all are too bothered about setting the fastest times with some not using the fastest tyres possible.

Still, we are heading for a Ferrari man being the fastest, just as we had yesterday.

Image source, Getty Images

The 12th, and probably final, man to get on to the track today is Williams' Lance Stroll. His team-mate Sergey Sirotkin did 105 laps, with a best of 1:19.189, sixth best so far today.

Charles Leclerc, fresh from earlier hitting a barrier, has just produced his best lap of 1:20.479 but it is still slower than the other nine drivers to set a time.

Leclerc has to knock two tenths of a second off his time if he is to go past Daniel Ricciardo.

Antony Towers‏: What is Fred Flintstones favourite post-race party? That would be the Abu Dhabi Doo!

Chris Harkness: What's the best kind of milk to feed a very young aspiring motor racing driver? A Formula One.

David Semeria‏: What's Ocon? Softs.

Chiggi‏: Need to Romain calm and kerb my urge to crack a bad one. It's Hartley worth it.

Loving all these. Keep them coming. Via #bbcf1 on Twitter.

He banged into a barrier earlier on, but Sauber have patched his car back up and Charles Leclerc is back.

Still no sign of Carlos Sainz though in his Renault after his earlier gearbox issue.

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