Force India’s Sergio Perez topped the timing screens on the first day of the final pre-season test in Bahrain with a 1:35.290.
The Mexican driver held the top spot from an early morning run as his rivals focused on reliabilty and long runs in the afternoon.
Valtteri Bottas was second quickest with Kimi Raikkonen not far behind, but the times were well down on the posted last week with a focus on race simulations.
Bottas lapped the Sakhir circuit 128 times, with only the Mercedes cars coming close to that.
Red Bull once again struggled with just 36 laps on the board. The RB10 was visibly overheating when it returned to the garage. At one point the team were seen using extinguishers when smoke began to pour from the engine cover.
Lotus also struggled and ended the day early thanks to an issue with its new exhaust layout.
Marussia however enjoyed a better day, completing 38 laps – a best for the Banbury based outfit.
Bahrain Testing Times (Thursday):
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. Perez | Force India | 1:35.290 | 105 | |
| 02 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:36.184 | +0.894 | 128 |
| 03 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:36.432 | +1.142 | 43 |
| 04 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:36.624 | +1.334 | 89 |
| 05 | A. Sutil | Sauber | 1:37.700 | +2.410 | 61 |
| 06 | K. Magnussen | McLaren | 1:37.825 | +2.535 | 109 |
| 07 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:37.908 | +2.618 | 36 |
| 08 | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:38.610 | +3.320 | 38 |
| 09 | D. Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:39.242 | +3.962 | 56 |
| 10 | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:40.599 | +5.309 | 31 |
| 11 | K. Kobayashi | Caterham | 1:42.285 | +6.995 | 19 |
