Lewis Hamilton impressed on the third day of the second pre-season test to go quickest by some margin in his Mercedes W05.
The Briton set his early pace, a 1:34.264 – under two seconds off last years Bahrain pole time – during some back-to-back short stints on the softer tyre.
Jenson Button was the only man to get anywhere near Hamilton’s time, albeit some seven tenths off thanks to a late run in the afternoon. He took his tally to a mammoth 103 laps.
One driver who wasn’t seen much during the afternoon was Daniel Ricciardo. The team identified an issue on his car and chose to pack up early. The Australian completed just 28 laps – five of those in the afternoon.
Another Renault powered team struggled for mileage too, with Pastor Maldonado only able to run for 26 laps behind the wheel of the Lotus E22 which caused two red flags.
Marcus Ericsson bucked the trend of the Renault-powered by completing 98 laps to cover enough distance to gain his super licence which will allow him to race in Australia.
Bahrain Testing Times (Friday):
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.263 | 67 | |
| 02 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:35.976 | +0.713 | 103 |
| 03 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:37.066 | +2.803 | 60 |
| 04 | E. Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:37.180 | +2.917 | 96 |
| 05 | S. Perez | Force India | 1:37.367 | +3.104 | 57 |
| 06 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:37.476 | +3.213 | 44 |
| 07 | D. Kyvat | Toro Rosso | 1:38.974 | +4.711 | 57 |
| 08 | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:39.642 | +5.379 | 26 |
| 09 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:40.781 | +6.518 | 28 |
| 10 | M. Ericsson | Caterham | 1:42.130 | +7.867 | 98 |
| 11 | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:46.672 | +12.409 | 4 |
| 12 | V. Bottas | Williams | No Time | 55 |
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