Felipe Massa kicked off the first day of the final pre-season test with a massively quick lap, far quicker than anything we’ve seen during testing so far.
The Williams driver used the soft tyre to post a 1:23.500, displacing Lewis Hamilton from the top spot in the process.
Hamilton eventually dropped to third for Mercedes. However the Briton only used the medium tyre and posted a respectable 1:24.881 during the morning session.
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson moved to second with an afternoon run on the supersoft tyre to go seven-tenths slower than the Brazilian.
Daniil Kvyat was fourth fastest for Red Bull ahead of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz Jr was seventh in a heavily revised Toro Rosso STR10 which featured a new nose among many other upgrades. An issue during the afternoon temporarily halted his running.
As bad days go, it didn’t compare to Jenson Button’s. The Briton completed just seven laps before McLaren ended the day due to a hydraulic issue.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 01. | F. Massa | Williams | 1:23.500 | 103 | |
| 02. | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:24.276 | 0.776 | 122 |
| 03. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.881 | 1.381 | 48 |
| 04. | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:25.947 | 2.447 | 75 |
| 05. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:26.177 | 2.677 | 75 |
| 06. | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:26.327 | 2.827 | 80 |
| 07. | C. Sainz Jr | Toro Rosso | 1:26.962 | 3.462 | 86 |
| 08. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:31.479 | 7.979 | 7 |
