Bottas fastest for Williams on final morning in Barcelona
Last day of Formula One pre-season testing, and super-soft ‘qualifying simulation’ runs dominate the timesheets.
Williams star Valtteri Bottas paced the morning of the final day of official Formula One testing at Barcelona in Spain.
The Finn lapped the Circuit de Catalunya in his Mercedes-powered FW37 in 1:23.063 on the super-soft tyre, to beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 0.406s.
Bottas’s time is still three-tenths slower than Nico Rosberg managed on the soft tyre on Friday. Bottas’s best lap on the soft today was over a second slower than the swiftest Mercedes time of the week on that tyre.
Rosberg is back in action today, and was fifth quickest on 1:25.186, concentrating on running with the medium and hard tyre.
Also running the super-soft tyre, Felipe Nasr was third quickest for Sauber, ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez.
Next up were Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso), Daniel Ricciardo (who suffered an early ERS problem on his Red Bull) and Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado, who completed the serious runners.
McLaren and Jenson Button only left the garage for the first time five minutes before lunch due to a sensor problem that required an engine change.
Barcelona Day Four morning times
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1. | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1m23.063s | 46 | |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m23.469s | +0.406 | 52 |
| 3. | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m24.023s | +0.960 | 73 |
| 4. | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1m25.113s | +2.050 | 54 |
| 5. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m25.186s | +2.123 | 69 |
| 6. | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1m26.267s | +3.204 | 49 |
| 7. | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1m26.587s | +3.524 | 10 |
| 8. | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1m28.272s | +5.209 | 35 |
| 9. | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | no time | 2 |
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