Barcelona Test 2 Day 3: Ferrari Strikes Back

Charles Leclerc

While Mercedes continues to sandbag on hard C2 tires, most of the teams tested the softest C5 tire on Thursday morning in Barcelona and Ferrari came out on top by 0.65s.

Charles Leclerc recorded the fastest lap of Formula 1 pre-season testing so far to top the penultimate morning of running as Ferrari bounced back in Barcelona.

After Sebastian Vettel’s big crash had curtailed Ferrari’s running on Wednesday afternoon, Leclerc returned to action with the Italian squad looking to make up for lost time having shuffled around its program, handing both its drivers full days in the cockpit to round out the final test.

The Monaco driver posted three quick laps with his best effort – a 1m16.231 – being set on Pirelli’s softest C5 compound as Ferrari teased more glimpses of its one-lap potential.

Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon was the only other driver with a sub 1m17s lap time on the same tires.

The British-Thai driver looked set to hold top spot that saw Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris each take it in turns to trade fastest laps, only for Leclerc to bury him late on with his flurry of quick laps.

But the car that appears to be the fastest is the Mercedes. On hard C2 tires Hamilton was quick at 1m18.097s and his C5 time is likely to be in the 1m15s range. Hamilton's long run heavy fuel runs were also very quick.

Times at 1pm (Lunch Break) Local Time

C1=Hardest Tires
C5=Softest Tire