Cast your eyes on a very interesting timesheet below; Williams return, Mercedes only 11th and 12th on Test One's penultimate day
Thursday 21 February 2019 12:11, UK
Daniil Kvyat was the pace-setter on an unpredictable third day of F1 Testing as Toro Rosso led a surprise top three on the timesheets.
Kvyat posted the fastest lap of the test so far, a 1:17.704 in the late Barcelona sunshine, to topple Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen, while Daniel Ricciardo was third for Renault.
Sebastian Vettel was fastest for Ferrari for much of the morning but was knocked down to fourth at the end of the day, finishing more than half a second off the pace.
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Kvyat, returning to F1 with the Honda-powered Toro Rosso this year, posted his lap on the fastest tyre available, two 'steps' softer than Vettel's - and it is unclear what fuel loads each team were running.
"The priority wasn't that [being fastest], the priority was to bounce back after the first day of mine which wasn't ideal," said Kvyat. "But we've recovered enough and even more, so that's great. A productive day."
Williams finally started their F1 2019 season on Wednesday after missing the opening two days, while Mercedes continue to keep their cards close to their chests.
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were, apart from Williams' George Russell, the slowest drivers on track - finishing 11th and 12th and three seconds down on Kvyat's leading time.
The world champions did, however, complete the most amount of laps with a combined 182, and say they are focusing on 'maximising laps and working through our programme'.
Glory runs galore, Williams return
Kvyat posted his benchmark in the final 15 minutes of the day, when many of testing's fastest laps have been set.
Many of the the teams appear to be sending their drivers out for 'glory runs' in this period, presumably with less fuel.
Kvyat, for example, had completed well over a century of laps before he posted a time over a second quicker than his previous personal best.
Raikkonen had been top for most of the day for Alfa Romeo, the former Sauber team who were perennial backmarkers before last season's improvement. The Swiss outfit have been one of the major stories at testing with their innovative and quick C38.
Ferrari had been quickest during the previous two days in Barcelona but finished their programme with more than half-an-hour remaining on Wednesday. Vettel lapped two tenths slower than his personal best from the first day, and Charles Leclerc will be back in the SF90 on Thursday the final day of Test One.
Max Verstappen was fifth as Red Bull finally started to reveal their speed with the Honda engine, while Nico Hulkenberg also dipped into the 1:18s for Renault..
Haas were blighted by more reliability issues, causing multiple red flags through stoppages on track with Pietro Fittipaldi and Romain Grosjean both struggling to get consistent running.
And McLaren could not back up their speed from the previous two days as Carlos Sainz finished ninth, ahead of Sergio Perez and the two Mercedes drivers.
But Hamilton appeared happy enough with his W10 when he met the media earlier in the day
Williams were rock bottom with Russell but the Grove team will just be relieved to be on track at all after what has been a disastrous start to their season.
Russell completed 23 laps in what was essentially a shakedown for the team who only delivered their FW42 to the circuit in the early hours of the morning.
Team boss Claire Williams, who spoke candidly to Sky F1 about their "horrible" delay, says aerodynamic tests will start on Thursday, when the team will start to learn where they stand in this intriguing pecking order.
Day Three at Barcelona in quotes
Claire Williams, Williams
"To say it's been a horrible few days would be an understatement It's been a very difficult birth at Williams for the FW42. We needed to make sure we got the best car we could out, and that's why we delayed it again until today [Wednesday]."
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
"Every year Ferrari always look strong, particularly the last few years they have looked very strong right at the beginning, so it's to be expected."
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
"We tried a few things around also focusing on set-up and I can only confirm the positive impression I had on day one. Having now put 303 laps in the bag I feel comfortable to say we are satisfied with how the car is progressing."
Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso
"The priority wasn't that [being fastest], the priority was to bounce back after the first day of mine which wasn't ideal. But we've recovered enough and even more, so that's great. A productive day."
Franz Tost, Toro Rosso
"The car looks good and I am confident that we will have a good season. [Honda] worked very hard, the power unit is reliable and shows a good performance."
Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber
"I don't have any expectations, we can only do our best. The team has built a good car, it's a good starting point. We have got things to work on but so far it's been pretty good.
Day Three at Barcelona in pictures
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