Kimi Raikkonen ended the seventh morning session of pre-season F1 2016 testing at the top of the timesheets in the Ferrari SF16-H.
It was a busy start to the day for the Finnish driver, as he was the first to try out a prototype of the ‘halo’ cockpit protection device. He ran it for an installation lap before getting on with Ferrari’s programme at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Raikkonen ended the morning quickest with a 1:22.785, set mid-way through the session on the new ultra soft Pirelli tyre. He managed 41 laps in total and finished just under half a second clear of Nico Hulkenberg.
The Force India driver’s best lap was also set on the new purple-marked compound. It was a productive day for the German as he sampled the VJM09 once again. Max Verstappen improved late in the morning, also on the ultra soft tyre.
Behind Verstappen, Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes. The team is splitting its running over the final test, with Lewis Hamilton jumping into the W07 for the afternoon session. Rosberg was around 1.4 seconds down on Raikkonen’s best attempt, but his time was on the medium compound.
Felipe Nasr was fifth for Sauber on the soft tyre, with Fernando Alonso sixth on the super-soft after an encouraging start to day three of the second test for McLaren. Daniil Kvyat completed some pit stop practice with his Red Bull crew and was seventh.
Felipe Massa didn’t emerge in the Williams FW38 for a little while at the start of the session but managed 46 laps in total on Thursday morning. He was eighth with a 1:25.420. Jolyon Palmer was ninth for Renault.
Romain Grosjean was 10th after a more productive morning for Haas, but brought out the red flag after an off at Turn 4 in the final minutes. Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the results for Manor with a 1:28.476.
Pre-season testing – Test 2 – Day 3 Morning Times:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Tyre | Laps |
| 1 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:22.785 |
 |
41 | |
| 2 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:23.251 | 0.466 |
|
49 |
| 3 | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:23.382 | 0.597 |
|
59 |
| 4 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.126 | 1.341 |
 |
81 |
| 5 | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:24.768 | 1.983 |
 |
37 |
| 6 | F. Alonso | McLaren | 1:24.870 | 2.085 |
 |
57 |
| 7 | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:25.141 | 2.356 |
|
62 |
| 8 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:25.420 | 2.635 |
 |
46 |
| 9 | J. Palmer | Renault | 1:27.182 | 4.397 |
|
26 |
| 10 | R. Grosjean | Haas | 1:28.110 | 5.325 |
|
59 |
| 11 | P. Wehrlein | Manor | 1:28.476 | 5.691 |
|
19 |
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