27/02/2014
NEWS STORY
Sergio Perez topped the timesheets as the teams stopped for lunch on the first day of the final pre-season test. Unlike last week, this week there is an official half-hour break at 13:00 each day.
It's been a busy morning despite red flags for Kobayashi and Maldonado, the 11 drivers completing 356 laps between them.
Many of the cars are running updates as they look ahead to Melbourne though Ferrari has had little opportunity to try out its package Kimi Raikkonen, who crashed at the very end of Saturday's session, sidelined for much of the morning.
There's an improvement for Red Bull and Toro Rosso however, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, completing 32 and 43 laps respectively, though behind the screens there were obvious signs (and sounds) of work being carried out on the Australian's car for much of the morning.
Lotus is said to have 120 new parts on the E22 though clearly there are still problems as Maldonado was the cause of a red flag just before lunch.
Once again the Mercedes teams lead the way, with Perez heading Rosberg and Magnussen, though it was noticed that the German set his time with relative ease.
Another German having a good day, thus far, is Adrian Sutil who has completed 31 laps, and is right up there with the McLaren and Mercedes, following Saturday's nightmare when he only completed 7 laps.
Marussia and Caterham clearly still have issues, the Russian outfit having had a nightmare test here last week.
All in all, apart from Marussia and Caterham, a good productive morning.
Midday Times - All Times Unofficial
Name | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
Perez | Force India | 37 | 1:35.290 | 127.050 mph |
Rosberg | Mercedes | 64 | 1:37.722 | 2.432 |
Magnussen | McLaren | 40 | 1:37.825 | 2.535 |
Sutil | Sauber | 31 | 1:37.892 | 2.602 |
Ricciardo | Red Bull | 32 | 1:37.908 | 2.618 |
Bottas | Williams | 43 | 1:38.907 | 3.617 |
Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 43 | 1:39.242 | 3.952 |
Raikkonen | Ferrari | 12 | 1:40.505 | 5.215 |
Maldonado | Lotus | 31 | 1:41.069 | 5.779 |
Chilton | Marussia | 16 | 1:41.073 | 5.783 |
Kobayashi | Caterham | 7 | 1:44.060 | 8.770 |
Chris Balfe