Hamilton fastest with Button just behind

Lewis Hamilton set a new benchmark on the third day of testing, setting a fastest lap time of 1:34.263 in the morning session of Fridays’ Bahrain test.

From that point, nobody could catch the Mercedes driver, who was the first to break into the 1m34’s today. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the closest to do so, going second fastest of the day with a 1:34.976, .713 back on Hamilton.

Jenson Button also finished the third day of testing at the top of the total laps completed tally; he has 103 laps of mileage to his name on Day 3.

After setting the blistering time in the morning session, Hamilton spent much of the afternoon in the garage before emerging with just over half an hour remaining on the day to complete another 22 laps.

Mercedes dominance with regards to strength and reliability continues at testing with Hamilton’s fastest morning time. Whilst Rosberg and the team spent Thursday focusing predominantly on reliability and race simulation, this morning saw Hamilton and Mercedes focus on light runs and pure speed of the W05; similar setup was used to that typically found during Q3 of qualifying.

Other teams, including Williams, used the morning to test the reliability of the car as well as practicing for races. Valtteri Bottas completed a whopping 55 laps before the lunch time break, but used every single lap to pit in order for the team to practice their pit stop times. 55 laps later, and with no full timed lap completed, Bottas sat at the bottom of the time sheets, whilst his team sat tired out in the garage after completing 54 full race simulation pit stops on the hottest day of testing in Bahrain so far.

The first red flag of the day came just an hour into the morning session when Max Chilton’s Marussia MR03 stopped on track with smoke billowing from the rear. Another red flag was waved just 10 minutes before the end of the morning session when Maldonado stopped the Lotus E22 on track. Lotus spent more time in the garage this morning than they did on track, struggling to overcome IT problems and reliability issues in order to ensure successful mileage on track.

Completing 23 laps this morning, Daniel Ricciardo showed further promise for the Red Bull RB10 as the mileage starts to stack up. Compared with the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes though, who have both completed full race simulation runs by this point, Red Bull remain significantly far behind the likes of their competitors.

On the flip-side, Ferrari had an ‘off; morning with a telemetry issue holding Raikkonen back. He would end the morning with just 12 laps to his name, whilst Force India’s Mercedes powered car spent the first hour and 50 minutes in the garage due to a battery complication. Perez finished the morning session with 17 laps done and a fifth fastest time, albeit just over six seconds off Hamilton’s leading pace.

Newly engaged McLaren driver Jenson Button is in the car for the first time in Bahrain. His morning consisted of 28 laps and a third fastest time. Esteban Gutierrez in the Sauber and Marcus Ericsson in the Caterham were also driving for the first time with their teams in Bahrain. Gutierrez went second fastest in the morning with 45 laps completed – the most of all the timed runners.

Red Bull Racing’s success on track was short lived though. As the afternoon session got underway, Ricciardo completed just five more laps to take his tally to 28 before Red Bull Racing brought yet another early end to their day of testing. Over the lunch break, the team found a mechanical issue they had not encountered before, causing the team to have to take apart and reassemble the car. The team made the call to suspend testing for the day in order to focus on making the car as strong as possible for tomorrow.

Felipe Massa, taking over behind the wheel of the FW36 from Bottas for the afternoons’ testing, set the third fastest lap time of the day just minutes before the chequered flag, posting a 1:37.066 ahead of the Sauber of Gutierrez. Massa will be pleased with the 60 laps he did today, as will Gutierrez who finished third in the total laps completed tally with 96.
Daniel Kvyat had a much more successful day behind the wheel of the Toro Rosso on Day 3 of testing. He ended the day with 54 laps to his name and the seventh fastest time. Along with improved reliability on the car, Kvyat also dipped in to the 1m38’s for the first time.

Caterham had one of their most successful days of testing in 2014. Though only finishing tenth of eleven runners with timed laps today, rookie driver Magnus Ericcson completed a huge 98 laps today, topped only by the McLaren of Jenson Button. The total laps completed add to the mileage count needed for Magnussen to gain his superlicence.

Lotus and Pastor Maldonado finished the day having caused two red flags to the session. Maldonado did break into the 1m:39’s though, but only completed 26 laps today. The team will look to bounce back from continued technical problems for the final day of the first test in Bahrain tomorrow.

Ferrari’s difficult day continued throughout the session and with the telemetry problem causing delayed runs for Raikkonen, the team would finish the day with just 44 laps on the car and a sixth fastest time for the Finn.

With just 4 laps on the board from the morning, Marussia were unable to get Max Chilton back on track for the rest of the day.

The fourth and final day of the first Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain commences tomorrow, February 22nd 2014.