Barcelona F1 test: Raikkonen stays on top as testing ends

Following the pattern of the last three days, the morning's best times were not beaten during the afternoon session, as the majority of teams turned their focus towards longer runs.

That meant Raikkonen's previous effort of 1m18.634s, set on supersoft tyres, stood as the best time of the day, as well as overall after eight days of winter testing.

It wasn't all plain sailing for Ferrari however, as Raikkonen caused the first red flag of the afternoon – and the fifth of the day – as he stopped pointing the wrong way on the disused section of track by the chicane.

The SF70H had suffered a problem earlier in the lap, with Raikkonen using the old circuit layout as he cruised back to the pits, only to lock the rears and spin to a halt. The Finn returned to the track for the final 15 minutes, and completed 111 laps.

Max Verstappen stayed second for Red Bull, 0.804s behind Raikkonen on the same tyre, followed by Carlos Sainz, who put Toro Rosso third with a morning run on ultrasofts.

The Spaniard was responsible for the sixth and final stoppage of the day when the STR12 eased to a stop along the start/finish straight at the start of the final hour.

Valtteri Bottas stayed fourth, a mere 0.005s ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who took over the W08 for the afternoon and posted a best of 1m19.850s using ultrasofts.

Morning times were enough to keep Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) and Sergio Perez (Force India) sixth and seventh, while Hulkenberg's teammate Jolyon Palmer slotted into eighth on ultrasofts.

Lance Stroll was ninth for Williams on his final test day before his grand prix debut in Melbourne, topping the lap count with a total of 132 laps.

Romain Grosjean completed the top 10 for Haas, enjoying a smoother afternoon after causing two red flags in the morning, just ahead of McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

The two-time champion likewise avoided any more significant trouble after the electrical faults that caused him to stop twice in the morning, and improved on his best time from earlier in the day with a 1m21.389s on ultrasofts – although he was baulked by Stroll on that particular lap.

Alonso ended up with a total of 43 laps to his name, with McLaren again completing the fewest laps of any team.

Sauber teammates Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein completed the times, the latter taking over the C36 for the afternoon and ending up just under five seconds off the pace on softs.

Day 4 times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Tyre	Laps
1	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:18.634			111
2	M. Verstappen	Red Bull	1:19.438	0.804		71
3	C. Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:19.837	1.203		132
4	V. Bottas	Mercedes	1:19.845	1.211		53
5	L. Hamilton	Mercedes	1:19.850	1.216		54
6	N. Hulkenberg	Renault	1:19.885	1.251		45
7	S. Perez	Force India	1:20.116	1.482		128
8	J. Palmer	Renault	1:20.205	1.571		43
9	L. Stroll	Williams	1:20.335	1.701		132
10	R. Grosjean	Haas	1:21.110	2.476		76
11	F. Alonso	McLaren	1:21.389	2.755		43
12	M. Ericsson	Sauber	1:21.670	3.036		59
13	P. Wehrlein	Sauber	1:23.527	4.893		42