Barcelona Day3: Verstappen fastest on super-softs

Max Verstappen

Before rain hit the circuit, Max Verstappen turned the fastest lap of 1m24.739s on the morning of day 3 of F1 testing in Barcelona, but he set the time on super-soft Pirellis while 2nd fastest man, Lewis Hamilton, set his time on Pirelli tires that were two grades harder – the mediums.

This underscores just how fast the sandbagging Mercedes team really is, consistently running on tires harder than everyone else, and when they are on the same hardness tire, they are over a second per lap faster than everyone else.

Sandbagging so they never turn the outright fastest testing lap of the day, and running race simulations on Pirelli winter hard tires out a pace no one can even come close to, 2015 will certainly be another 1-2 Mercedes parade every race.

Sebastian Vettel took over the Ferrari from Kimi Raikkonen and turned the third fastest lap at 1m26.407s.

The McLaren Honda team appears to be in big trouble. Jenson button's car had to again be flatbedded back to the garage and when the car does run it is not fast.

Morning Times
1 Verstappen, Toro Rosso 1m24.739s
2 Hamilton, Mercedes 1m26.142s
3 Vettel, Ferrari 1m26.407s
4 Kvyat, Red Bull 1m26.589s
5 Massa, Williams 1m26.912s
6 Wehrlein, Force India 1m27.699s
7 Maldonado, Lotus 1m27.966s
8 Button, McLaren 1m29.151s