Summary

  • Fernando Alonso stops on track but later goes second quickest, behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen

  • Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap recorded at this circuit (1:17.182) on Thursday

  • Final day of Formula 1 testing

  • Session runs until 17:00 GMT

  • Get involved: What have we learned from testing? #bbcf1

  1. A good winter so far for Toro Rossopublished at 08:41 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    Two teams particularly caught the eye on Thursday and Toro Rosso, who are having a good winter, were one of them. Pierre Gasly was third fastest and the team’s relationship with Honda continues to get off to a good start.

    “It was very good,” Gasly said. “We did a lot of laps, we finally could concentrate on the performance because this was my last day in the car, so we had to find my potential with this car. It was a really good day, extremely positive.

    "We also managed to complete a race simulation, which was really important to discover how the car handles with different fuel loads, so it was a really good day.”

    Pierre GaslyImage source, Getty Images
  2. get involved

    Get Involved #bbcf1published at 08:39 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    What have we learned from testing?

    Simon Gilbert‏: Surely Williams need to be thinking about getting Kubica in the car for this season? Maybe today is a shootout between Stroll and Sirotkin?

    Mr Pavl: There is one thing I’ve learned from testing... it’s how much I’ve missed F1 over the winter.

    John Stock‏: Testing so far tells me that Mercedes are supremely confident. Nothing extravagant so far, no concerns about Vettel's time yesterday. Lewis may just blow that time out of the water today, but I don't think they feel that'll be necessary.

    Sergey Sirotkin (pictured) is up first today for Williams, with Lance Stroll expected later on. Kubica has certainly impressed, going faster than Stroll yesterday and faster than Sirotkin on 27 February.

    Sergey SirotkinImage source, Getty Images
  3. The story so far - test twopublished at 08:33 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Sebastian Vettel is not on the track today, but that's OK he has certainly had his time out there.

    He did 171 laps on Tuesday when he was quickest and then did another 188 yesterday as he sent down the fastest lap recorded at the Circuit de Catalunya.

    Daniel Ricciardo, for the second time in testing, was the quickest man on one of the days - Wednesday.

    Day oneImage source, @pirellisport
    PirelliImage source, @pirellisport
    Day threeImage source, @pirellisport
  4. Kimi goes quickestpublished at 08:28 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Back to today, and Kimi Raikkonen is now the quickest with an effort of 1:20.483 on the softs. That is better than Lewis Hamilton's 1:21.720 on the ultra-softs. Hamilton came in briefly, but is back out there again.

    Romain Grosjean in his Haas and Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley are also currently on the track.

    Kimi RaikkonenImage source, Getty Images
  5. The story so far - first test...published at 08:24 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    So this is the final day of two blocks of four of testing. The first section of four days saw days two and three severely affected by the cold weather and then the snow.

    These are the times from those first four days, which saw Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest times on days one, two and four respectively.

    Fernando Alonso was the quickest by default on day three as he was the only one to tiptoe around in the awful conditions.

    Day oneImage source, @pirellisport
    Day twoImage source, @pirellisport
    Day threeImage source, @pirellisport
    Day fourImage source, @pirellisport
  6. get involved

    Get Involved #bbcf1published at 08:18 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    What have we learned from testing?

    Bob McFeil‏: What we’ve learned from testing is that we have no clue how the midfield battle will start and end up. McLaren are good but notoriously unreliable so far.

    Dale Foster‏: So what I learnt was Honda are better than McLaren. Oh and that I will struggle to survive without the testing feed!

    Stay strong Dale, only two weeks before Melbourne.

    Fernando AlonsoImage source, Getty Images
  7. 'It should be good'published at 08:14 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    For Lewis Hamilton, a race simulation is on the cards this morning.

    “Me personally… that is the only box that I need to tick,” he said on Thursday. “We’ve done a lot of laps, got through our programme and got through everything that needed doing. Of course we could have had more time and the engineers will always say we need more days but for me it is like ‘let’s just go’ and get to the race.

    "Throw us in the deep end and see how we manage to keep above water. The long run, the race run, is always a challenge physically and mentally. Hopefully we can tick that off and avoid any red flags and stuff so it should be good.”

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  8. Hamilton gets some early laps donepublished at 08:11 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    I said Hamilton's first time would be beaten and of course it has been - by the world champion himself, whose best time from his six laps is now a 1:21.720.

    Daniel Ricciardo is out on the track, so may be rivalling that time sometime soon.

  9. 'The car feels great'published at 08:10 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are quietly going about their business this winter. Packing in the miles, learning about the car, and despite a lack of headline lap times, nothing has shifted the perception of them as favourites.

    Hamilton, who drives again this morning, said: “I don’t know where we are in terms of the pack but our week has been very good, very productive, we got through everything we needed. Reliability has been fantastic and the car feels great.

    "I mean, we haven’t been working on balance or anything like that but in terms of some of the issues which we had last year, a lot of them, some of them at least, have been removed, but the track is a lot different what it used to be as you know because they resurfaced it and so it’s kind of misleading at the moment, it’s difficult to know until we get to Melbourne. I definitely feel we are moving in a positive direction.”

    Lewis HamiltonImage source, Getty Images
  10. Postpublished at 08:06 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Lewis Hamilton smashes down the first time of the day and his lap of 1:25.710 is the time to beat, and it will be beaten. He has started off on the ultra-softs by the way.

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  11. The gloves are offpublished at 08:05 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    Finally, the gloves began to come off on Thursday. On the penultimate day of pre-season testing, many teams had a bash on the fastest hyper-soft tyre and Ferrari came out on top. But Sebastian Vettel was a long way from getting over-excited about the fastest ever lap around Barcelona.

    “We still need to work on the performance and feeling, he said. “In terms of reliability, it's rock solid. Hats off to all the guys in the factory. There's so much planning involved and trying to squeeze out everything. Fingers crossed it stays like that. It's the major ingredient if you want to do well.

    “It’s just a time. There’s been a lot of times, what’s important is the car was working all day. We did nearly 200 laps so that was good. Overall the conditions were better than yesterday. It’s always difficult to compare but it matters in a couple of week’s time, that’s when its serious.” Kimi Raikkonen drives on the final day.

    Sebastian VettelImage source, AFP
  12. No time to waste...published at 08:02 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    The clock ticks 08:00 GMT (09:00 in Spain) and there is no messing about at all. Esteban Ocon, Romain Grosjean, Brendon Hartley, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton all head out straight away.

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  13. get involved

    Get Involved #bbcf1published at 08:01 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    What have we learned from testing?

    One more day to go, but what have we learned from Formula 1 testing?

    That is our talking point today and we want you to tell us which drivers and teams have impressed you and why? Which teams have struggled or underperformed? What can we take into the season?

    The floor is yours, so as always get in touch via the hashtag #bbcf1 and we will stick your messages in this page throughout the day.

  14. Who's up today?published at 07:58 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    These are the names we are looking out for today...

    No Sebastian Vettel today after an incredible stint of 188 laps yesterday

    Today's driversImage source, Circuit de Catalunya
  15. Yesterday's action...published at 07:55 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap ever recorded around the Circuit de Catalunya on the penultimate day of pre-season testing.

    The German was more than a second quicker than anyone else as Ferrari finally showed their hand before the start of the season later this month.

    Kevin Magnussen's Haas was an eye-opening second fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly's equally surprising Toro Rosso.

    Lewis Hamilton was only eighth fastest for pre-season favourites Mercedes.

    Sebastian VettelImage source, Getty Images
  16. Welcome alongpublished at 07:50 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    Morning. Hope you are well.

    Here we go again. I'm Michael Emons and will be guiding you through all the action from the final day of Formula 1 testing.

  17. What next?published at 07:44 Greenwich Mean Time 9 March 2018

    We've had snow...

    SnowImage source, Circuit de Catalunya

    ...we've had spins...

    Fernando AlonsoImage source, EPA

    ...and we've had sensational laps.

    Sebastian VettelImage source, Getty Images

    It is the last day of testing so what will we see today?