Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fastest, lapping in 1m20.396s and completing 171 laps – equal to nearly 800km and more than two and a half race distances at the Circuit de Catalunya. Vettel posted his fastest lap on the medium tyres, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas second on softs with a time 0.200s slower.
Sebastian Vettel completed a series of short runs on lower fuel, clocking a best for Ferrari of 1m 17.182s on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyre to finish top of the pile when the chequered flag dropped for lunch.
Cooler conditions greeted the teams in Spain on Thursday morning, but the continued dry weather allowed them to get through the final parts of their programme ahead of the first race in Australia.
The German’s record time, which is unofficial because lap times in testing are not recognised, was more than a second quicker than the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who set his best time on the supersofts.
Mercedes had the most productive morning, with Valtteri Bottas focusing on running the medium tyre as he clocked up 97 laps ahead of handing the car over to team mate Lewis Hamilton.
Stoffel Vandoorne ended up fifth quickest, but his McLaren team finished bottom of the mileage charts with just 48 laps on the board.
Lance Stroll will take over driving duties from Robert Kubica at Williams this afternoon, while Renault’s Carlos Sainz will swap in for Nico Hulkenberg.
