Barcelona: Day Four

It's hard to think that in three weeks time we get the 2013 season started in Melbourne. It's been a long winter testing, and Formula 1's first of three visits (two tests and the Spanish Grand Prix) to Barcelona for testing concludes having provided us with some terrific lap times. Unfortunately, most of the day was dominated by rain.

Final Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1m23.282s
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) – 1m23.633s
3. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) – 1m24.071s
4. Jules Bianchi (Force India) – 1m25.732s
5. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) – 1m26.239s
6. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) – 1m27.429s
7. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) – 1m27.563s
8. Mark Webber (Red Bull) – 1m27.616s
9. Max Chilton (Marussia) – 1m29.902s
10. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) – 1m34.800s
11. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) – no time
12. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) – no time

Red flag waving was common practice today as the rain made the track wet and slippery. It wouldn't be right to read too much into today's session, but at least we had a small indication of how the 2013 models handle in the wet. All quick laps were done in the morning with Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton setting the quickest, 0.3s off former McLaren team mate Jenson Button. Jean-Eric Vergne seems to have gotten Toro Rosso's great testing form back on track as he said he had "another productive day, even with the rain."

Williams had no time set due to practising pit-stops and other pit protocols.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez and Jean-Eric Vergne all ended up in the gravel after sliding off which incurred red flags. Romain Grosjean finished Lotus's poor Barcelona form off with a resounding 10th place finish. Hopefully by the time of the second test here, the Enstone team will have everything looked and and fixed as they really need to hit the ground running down under.