Charles Leclerc came within a few hundredths of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya track record during Thursday’s Formula 1 test day, as Pierre Gasly suffered a sizeable crash.
Leclerc moved past Alexander Albon’s benchmark – the Anglo-Thai having been the first driver to dip into the 1:16s – before setting a series of rapid times on Pirelli’s C5 tyres.
The Monegasque driver wound up with a best of 1:16.231s, which was just six-hundredths of a second slower than the all-time track record, set by Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for last year’s Grand Prix.
He later played down the time, commenting that Ferrari still has to make progress, insisting the team is not running “flat out” at the current stage of proceedings.
The Ferrari driver’s day was not completely without problems for his SF90 came to a halt on the approach to Turn 9 with around 20 minutes remaining; Ferrari has since confirmed a small exhaust issue was the cause of the stoppage.
Teams predominantly switched focus to long runs during the afternoon session but Red Bull’s programme came to a juddering halt when Gasly crashed through Turn 9.
The Frenchman lost the rear of the RB15 on corner entry and spun into the barriers, with the rear and left-hand-side of the car sustaining substantial damage.
Gasly was able to extricate himself from the wreckage and walk away from the scene of the crash. Gasly’s earlier time nonetheless left him fourth, behind Albon and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Renault duo Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg placed fifth and sixth respectively, in front of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll – who stopped on the back straight – and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
Romain Grosjean’s run plan was compromised by an exhaust problem and he completed only a handful of laps before improving late on to take ninth, three spots ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen is still struggling slightly with an ill-fitting headrest position but has assured it will be sufficiently repaired in time for Australia.
Lewis Hamilton finished 10th for Mercedes – his best time coming on the C2s as opposed to the C5s used for the eight quicker drivers – as George Russell racked up substantial mileage once more for Williams, amassing an individual-best 140 laps, albeit still playing catch-up after its first week delays.
Mercedes nonetheless finished with the most laps completed of any team, with 190 laps completed between Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who placed 13th.
The final day of pre-season testing will begin at 09:00 local time.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 |  Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari | 1:16.231 | 138 | |
| 2 |  Alexander Albon |
Toro Rosso | 1:16.882 | 0.651 | 118 |
| 3 |  Lando Norris |
McLaren | 1:17.084 | 0.853 | 84 |
| 4 |  Pierre Gasly |
Red Bull | 1:17.091 | 0.860 | 65 |
| 5 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
Renault | 1:17.204 | 0.973 | 65 |
| 6 |  Nico Hulkenberg |
Renault | 1:17.496 | 1.265 | 73 |
| 7 |  Lance Stroll |
Racing Point | 1:17.556 | 1.325 | 103 |
| 8 |  Antonio Giovinazzi |
Alfa Romeo | 1:17.639 | 1.408 | 71 |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean |
Haas | 1:17.854 | 1.623 | 16 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | 1:18.097 | 1.866 | 85 |
| 11 | George Russell |
Williams | 1:18.130 | 1.899 | 140 |
| 12 |  Kevin Magnussen |
Haas | 1:18.199 | 1.968 | 53 |
| 13 |  Valtteri Bottas |
Mercedes | 1:18.862 | 2.631 | 97 |
