Mercedes fired a warning shot amongst its rivals on Friday as Nico Rosberg smashed the fastest test time so far when he finally ran the soft tyre.
The German stormed to the top of the times with a 1:22.792 – just one second off the race record lap time around the Circuit de Catalunya – and then followed it up with an almost identical time just minutes after.
Valtteri Bottas was second quickest, albeit 1.2 seconds adrift, whilst Sauber’s Felipe Nasr wasn’t far behind after posting the fastest time of the morning.
Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest, but the other big story of the day after Mercedes’ pace was McLaren’s reliability. Jenson Button managed 101 laps before his car came to halt just minutes before the end of the session.
Pastor Maldonado was sixth, Max Verstappen seventh and Daniil Kvyat eighth.
Meanwhile Force India debuted its 2015 car with Nico Hulkenberg behind the wheel. He was slowest but managed a respectable 77 laps.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 01. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:22.792 | 106 | |
| 02. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:23.995 | 1.203 | 90 |
| 03. | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:24.071 | 1.279 | 141 |
| 04. | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:25.339 | 2.547 | 143 |
| 05. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:25.590 | 2.798 | 101 |
| 06. | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:26.705 | 3.913 | 140 |
| 07. | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:26.766 | 3.974 | 139 |
| 08. | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:26.965 | 4.173 | 84 |
| 09. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:28.412 | 5.620 | 77 |
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