Pastor Maldonado put his Williams FW34 at the top of the time sheets on the penultimate day of the second test in Barcelona.
The Venezuelan set the fastest lap seen during the test so far, also half a second better than his qualifying lap around the same circuit last year to head Michael Schumacher by almost a second.
Kamui Kobayashi popped up in third in his Sauber ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Two seconds back was Toro Rosso’s rookie driver Jean-Eric Vergne.
Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Paul di Resta completed the top eight, whilst Timo Glock, in last seasons Marussia, was quicker than Caterham’s Vitaly Petrov, who at one point led the times due to a timing error.
Test times from Barcelona (Day 3):
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:22.391 | — | 106 |
| 02. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:23.384 | +0.993 | 127 |
| 03. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:22.582 | +1.191 | 99 |
| 04. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:23.918 | +1.527 | 114 |
| 05. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:24.433 | +2.042 | 78 |
| 06. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:24.771 | +2.380 | 84 |
| 07. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:24.771 | +2.380 | 97 |
| 08. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:25.646 | +3.255 | 83 |
| 09. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:26.173 | +3.782 | 108 |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:26.448 | +4.057 | 70 |
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