Pierre Gasly had an off but he's OK and the car has been removed from the track so we should be back up and running again soon.

Chris Medland
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Valtteri Bottas is far more upbeat on this final day than he was at the end of day one, when Alfa Romeo broke a number of parts due to the bouncing that has been causing so many headaches (both literally and figuratively) for teams at this test.

Bottas was encouraged by the mileage team-mate Guanyu Zhou managed on Thursday afternoon, as it proved the team had found solutions to their issues. That has so far continued this morning, with Zhou managing 37 laps so far.

Red flagpublished at 10:38 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

10:38 GMT 25 February 2022

The session is stopped for the second time this morning.

It is because Pierre Gasly - who did more laps than any other driver yesterday with 147 - has come to a stop.

Lando Norris is racking up the laps with just under 90 minutes of the morning session remaining.

In contrast, Fernando Alonso is having to find ways to entertain himself as he's still not been out since his Alpine lost pressure 12 laps in.

Hopefully he's brought his deckchair, external with him.

Whenever I put some times in, someone immediately goes and makes it out of date by going quickest! This time it is George Russell as the Mercedes driver does a 1:19.608.

That tops Charles Leclerc's time from yesterday of 1:19.689, which was the fastest on day two.

Here's the full timesheet...

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:19.756 – 40 laps
2. George Russell (Mercedes) 1:20.556 – 45 laps
3. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) 1:20.699 – five laps
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:20.827 – 33 laps
5. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) 1:20.934 - 27 laps
6. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 1:21.242 – 12 laps
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:21.733 – 23 laps
8. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) 1:22.469 – 31 laps
9. Alexander Albon (Williams) 1:22.652 – 21 laps
10. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 1:24.204 – 28 laps
11. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) 1:26.229 – nine laps

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, .

Any other animals we could use to describe things in F1? Floor's open.

One thing to come out of testing so far in Barcelona is 'porpoising'.

No, we're not talking about a load of porpoises suddenly making an unexpected appearance on the track, but rather a phenomenon the drivers have been experiencing so far.

It is where the cars have been heavily bouncing on the suspension at high speeds.

“I think most of us at least underestimated the problem, in terms of being on track and bouncing more than expected,” said Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto.

“When you're setting these cars up with the ground [effect] floor, the situation is different. It's a learning process."

You don't see this often in testing - one team giving both drivers a run out in one session.

Having started the morning with Alex Albon in the Williams early doors, Nicholas Latifi is now behind the wheel

Image source, Getty Images

Nikita Mazepin hasn't been out for a little while and the team have just posted an update to say they've found a leak.

Max Verstappen has just gone quicker than the below time, becoming the first driver of the day to dip into the 1:19s.

He's a second quicker than the Mercedes of George Russell.

Andrew Priestley: The early indications are that the regulation changes look to be giving us the grid reset we all craved. Let’s hope that the aerodynamic changes have the desired wheel-to-wheel racing benefits which were promised also.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel says the Russian Grand Prix should be cancelled - and he will not be there if the race goes ahead.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday morning on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is closely associated with his country's F1 race.

Four-time champion Vettel said: "I should not go, I will not go. We should not race in the country.

"I am sorry for the innocent people who are being killed for stupid reasons."

Vettel said Russia had "a very strange and mad leadership".

He added that he was "shocked" by events in Ukraine, and that while "we will see [what happens] going forward, my decision [on whether to race in Russia] is already made".

Reigning champion Max Verstappen added: "When a country is at war, it is not right to race there."

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, PA Media

World champion Max Verstappen says it is "very unfair" Michael Masi has been removed from the post of race director, and he has been "thrown under the bus".

Red Bull driver Verstappen won the world title after Masi failed to follow the rules correctly at a dramatic season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Verstappen said it was "unacceptable" to have allowed team bosses to talk directly to Masi during races.

And he said the decision to remove him was "really incredible".

Masi failed to follow the safety-car rules correctly in two different ways in last year's final race - on the treatment of lapped cars and the timing of a restart.

He did so under pressure from both the Mercedes and Red Bull teams, with Masi seeming to follow Red Bull's advice as he sought to comply with a previously made decision to try to prevent races finishing under the safety car.

When the race resumed for one final lap, Lewis Hamilton - who had dominated the race and was on course for an eighth world title - was left exposed on old tyres and Verstappen passed him to become world champion.

It was a busy day on and off the track yesterday, here's a quick look at some of the main stories that came out.

Chris Medland
F1 journalist in Barcelona

Image source, Chris Medland

After Fernando Alonso caused the first red flag of the day because of a loss of pressure (Alpine not specifying the type of pressure it lost), it’s back down to work for Max Verstappen.

On this run, the Red Bull was demonstrating the bouncing pretty much all teams are struggling with at this test as it came down the pit straight with the DRS overtaking aid closed. This phenomenon is caused by the underbody losing downforce and then regaining it repeatedly, triggering a cycle where the car bounces up and down at high frequency on the straight above a certain speed.