Formula 1 testing day six - Sebastian Vettel crashed into barrier

Summary

Sebastian Vettel OK after crashing into barrier
McLaren's Carlos Sainz sets fastest 2019 testing time but then breaks down
Alonso becomes McLaren ambassador, Sirotkin named as Renault's reserve driver
Afternoon session 13:00 to 17:00
Testing finishes on Friday
Get involved: Your reaction to Alonso becoming McLaren ambassador #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Michael Emons

Postpublished at 16:08 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Another 100 laps, this time from Romain Grosjean. Daniil Kvyat should be next to reach the ton.
A solid, if not spectacular afternoon of Formula 1 testing action.
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Postpublished at 15:59 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
We've not had the drama of the morning session, but there is still an hour left. We're done at 17:00 GMT.
'Doing the business'published at 15:49 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Fourth so far for Romain Grosjean, who is two laps away from joining centurions Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Robert Kubica, although the Frenchman is in the pits at the moment.
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get involved
Get Involvedpublished at 15:42 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
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Charlie Singleton: Melbourne should be interesting. Both Mercedes drivers are close which may suggest Hamilton is holding back just as much as Mercedes itself is. Very interesting
Postpublished at 15:34 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Still no Ferrari action this afternoon.
'Good work team'published at 15:29 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
We said Robert Kubica was approaching his century of laps and he has now blasted past that, on to 107 and counting.
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Centuriespublished at 15:16 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Two drivers have now reached the 100-lap mark. Max Verstappen has done 114 and Carlos Sainz has done 107, with Robert Kubica set to reach three figures in the next five minutes as he is on 98.
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Get Involved #bbcf1published at 15:10 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
BlueMarbleRider: As an ex Woking boy, it's fabulous to see McLaren popping some quick times in! Bodes well for Sainz and Norris.
Unless anyone bangs on some really soft tyres and has a late blast, I'd be surprised if Carlos Sainz is not leading the way at the end. That would be two days in a row where McLaren would have topped the times.
Zipping pastpublished at 15:00 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
What of Sergio Perez? Ninth of 12, with 59 laps done today, and here he is in action.
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'Solid'published at 14:59 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Valtteri Bottas' track time is done for the day and he seems reasonably satisfied.
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A car with teethpublished at 14:46 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Why are Renault occupying the bottom two spots? Well, this does not help the pace.
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Today's times so farpublished at 14:45 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
1. Carlos Sainz (McLaren, 1:17.144, 96 laps)
2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari, 1:18.195, 40 laps)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull, 1:18.395, 114 laps)
4. Romain Grosjean (Haas, 1:18.847, 80 laps)
5. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes, 1:18.941, 74 laps)
6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, 1:18.943, 32 laps)
7. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso, 1:19.060, 66 laps)
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo, 1:19.194, 76 laps)
9. Sergio Perez (Racing Point, 1:19.202, 54 laps)
10. Robert Kubica (Williams, 1:19.367, 84 laps)
11. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault, 1:22.077, 7 laps)
12. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault, 1:22.597, 72 laps)
Tyres
Sainz and Kubica C4 (second softest)
Ricciardo C2 (second hardest)
Everyone else C3 (medium)
Postpublished at 14:42 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
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Hamilton, sixth fastest with a best of 1:18.943, is now up to 32 laps for the day. Valtteri Bottas ended two thousandths of a second faster from his 74 laps in the morning.
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Get Involved #bbcf1published at 14:33 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Your reaction to Fernando Alonso becoming a McLaren ambassador
Ilyas Bulsari: If McLaren prove to be competitive and can get podium places then the wiley old fox (Alonso) may return.
Scott Forrest: Would be typical Alonso to leave a struggling team & them to become front runner contenders again.
Steve Pearce: I'm seriously considering a fiver on Fernando to win one more WDC. If McLaren look like they may have a good shot in 2020/21, and can compete for wins, he'll be back!
My turnpublished at 14:27 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
After 72 laps from Daniel Ricciardo today, his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg gets his turn on the track.
Hulk, inside three laps, instantly goes faster, although he is on the C3 medium compound, while Ricciardo had been on the C2s (the second hardest compound).
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Easier to follow?published at 14:23 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Will the changes made to the front wings this year in pursuit of making it easier to follow closely behind another car work? Until testing, the general view among the teams was that, no, they probably would not make much difference. But on Tuesday Kevin Magnussen said he had followed another car in the Haas and had been pleasantly surprised.
“You know, it really, really feels a lot better than last year,” the Dane said. “There were so many people, even guys from here, that when the car was just in the wind tunnel and before we put the cars on track, a lot of people were saying that it wouldn't make any difference.
"But following a car it felt completely different. I could actually follow. I was a lot faster than the guy I was following and I passed him. The lap that I caught him, I got past him. And I must have been around two seconds faster, in which case you would have also passed him last year, I think. But it just felt very, very [different] - [the] feeling of the car behind the other car felt different. Much better.”
Vettel's Ferrari 'fairly damaged'published at 14:17 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
The main talking point of today has been the crash for Sebastian Vettel, with Ferrari not seen on the track since.
Vettel has been talking to the media and said: "We don’t know much more than everyone knows. Inside the car, I was going into Turn Three and from the feeling it was an issue with the front-left corner and from there it wasn’t anything I could have done to avoid the impact. After that, I wasn’t in control any more and I went more or less straight into the barriers.
“We are flat out trying to understand. It would be a lot easier if there was a lot of run-off and the car didn’t hit anything right after because now it is fairly damaged because of the hit so we have to be careful working out what happened.
“Overall the car is strong, it feels good. We have been exploring a lot of things since day one and it has been very productive. Overall, I am still positive about the car and the feeling inside the car."
Image source, Reuters
Gloriouspublished at 14:10 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Chris Medland
F1 journalist in Barcelona
A full pit wall and a garage of pit crew hanging around with helmets on very much suggests it’s race simulation time at Red Bull. Sure enough Verstappen pulls in and the team carries out a live pit stop - not a quick one I might add - before sending him back out on a brand new set of tyres.
It’s over 20C here now. In the sun it definitely feels like it could be race day in Europe in the summer. These are the runs that often get really closely analysed in order to work out true race performance.
Image source, Chris Medland
get involved
Get Involvedpublished at 14:04 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
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Having a hard day at work? Debbie's not.
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No-one at all is jealous. Honest.
Max's milestonepublished at 14:01 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February 2019
Max Verstappen conked out just when coming out of the pit lane earlier on, with his mechanics having to dash along to push him back home.
But since then, no problems for Red Bull and he's the first man to get to the 100-lap mark.
He's still got a bit to go to match the 136 laps his team-mate Pierre Gasly chalked up yesterday, but, overall, a pretty good pre-season so far for those Honda engines.