McLaren’s technical troubles worsened on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), while Pastor Maldonado again steered Lotus to the session’s fastest lap in Formula One pre-season testing.
A faulty seal on his McLaren cut short Jenson Button’s shift behind the wheel on Thursday. Two days later, the team said “similar issues” with its new Honda engine were behind the former champion registering the session’s fewest laps, 24, and slowest time.
McLaren, which also recorded the lowest lap total through the first test in Jerez, said “a new re-engineered seal is scheduled to arrive and will be applied later this evening.”
Maldonado continued to impress by clocking the quickest lap to sit on top of the timesheet for a second time this week at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, where the Venezuelan got his sole grand prix win in 2012.
Toro Rosso newcomer Max Verstappen, F1’s youngest ever driver at 17 years old, had a strong showing with the most laps at 129 and the second fastest time – less than 0.004 seconds behind Maldonado – before light rain fell halfway through the session.
“A good session and the first time I’ve done over a hundred laps in a single day,” Verstappen said.
“Compared to after the first test in Jerez, I feel more confident and more comfortable with the car, as I start to learn about every aspect of the job.”
Lewis Hamilton managed the third best time to put Mercedes ahead of a revamped Ferrari for the first time this pre-season.
The champion said he was still not completely recovered from a fever that forced him to stop driving on Thursday.
“Just like yesterday, there have been better days in terms of how I’m feeling,” Hamilton said.
“We weren’t looking for a quick lap, just driving round looking at setup changes. If the weather had been better we would have had more mileage but we got through everything we wanted to today anyway.”
Sebastian Vettel ended up in the gravel on his first lap out when he lost control of his Ferrari.
But with his car undamaged, the former four-time champion went back out and put in 101 laps and the fifth fastest time, right behind Marcus Ericsson of Sauber.
Testing continues on Sunday. Teams then take a pause before returning to the track for a final four days of testing next weekend.
The Formula One season begins at the Australia GP on March 15.
