Ferrari end final test with four best times of pre-season; Hamilton sets pace on medium tyres before Mercedes' W07 suffers its only winter breakdown; McLaren's full 2016 spec waits for Melbourne
Saturday 5 March 2016 10:49, UK
Ferrari's hopes of challenging Mercedes for the world title in 2016 received another boost as Sebastian Vettel ended winter testing top of the timesheet.
The Scuderia's new SF16-H has proved quickest on five of the eight test days in Spain and Vettel's fastest lap on supersoft tyres on Friday, 1:22.852, was the second quickest of the whole winter.
Title favourites Mercedes had only given a glimpse of their W07's true pace before the final day and again chose not to engage in any qualifying simulations on Pirelli's softest tyres.
The stunning reliability of the new W07 has allowed Mercedes to rack up over 3,500 miles of Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya - but the car finally broke down just before the lunch break when a transmission problem meant Hamilton's pre-season ended by the side of the track.
However, world champion Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports News HQ: "I'm glad l broke it! It's better to break it now than in Melbourne. I pushed the car here and there but Australia is when l will really get to open it up.
"It's been an incredible two weeks for the team. They have done an amazing job. We've done more mileage than ever before - which has been tiring!"
Hamilton ended up on 69 laps before Nico Rosberg took over the W07 once it was repaired for the afternoon, with the German focusing solely on heavy-fuel long running as he set the slowest time of all.
In addition to Vettel, the three other drivers who finished ahead of Mercedes on the timesheet ran softer tyres.
Toro Rosso's promising pre-season ended with Carlos Sainz setting the second-fastest time, a 1:23.134 which was just four tenths of a second slower than the winter's best time set by Kimi Raikkonen.
Felipe Massa was third for Williams after they ran their short stints in the afternoon, the Brazilian finishing just a tenth ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez on the same supersoft tyres.
Behind sixth-fastest Daniel Ricciardo - who was one of six drivers to clear a century of laps - were McLaren as the team's much-improved pre-season ended with the MP4-31 again running reliably.
Jenson Button racked up a healthy 121 laps but lapped 1.8 seconds slower than Ferrari on the same ultrasoft tyres.
"We are not running the 2016 spec here," said McLaren racing director Eric Boullier. "We are a bit behind the programme.
"So that means we are going to turn up in Australia with more bits on the car that have unfortunately not been signed off here. But it is what it is - we have been able to run most of the days, which is very good news."
Although not on the scale of McLaren's early 2015 travails, Haas have endured a troubled week amid a multitude of technical problems with their all-new VF-16.
But on the final day on track before their race weekend debut, the American newcomers enjoyed some good fortune as Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez completed 91 laps between them.
Barcelona Test Two, Day Four timesheet
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:22.852, supersoft tyres, 142 laps
2. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:23.134, ultrasoft tyres, 133 laps
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:23.644, supersoft tyres, 129 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:23.721, supersoft tyres, 60 laps
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:24.133, medium tyres, 69 laps
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:24.427, soft tyres, 123 laps
7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:24.714, ultrasoft tyres, 121 laps
8. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:24.859, supersoft tyres, 90 laps
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:25.031, soft tyres, 132 laps
10. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:25.255, soft tyres, 66 laps
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:25.422, soft tyres, 25 laps
12. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:25.899, ultrasoft tyres, 58 laps
13. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26.140, medium tyres, 70 laps
The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20.
