100 laps completed by Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel in the last day of the first pre-season testing session. Report from the last day of the first pre-season testing session.

Mercedes’ rivals will be hoping the headline times from the first test of the 2020 F1 season do not reflect the true state of the competition, as the world champions were 1.3 seconds faster than anyone else. However Valtteri Bottas did use the softest tyres available – Pirelli’s C5 compound – to set the fastest time of the first three days of testing. He lapped the Circuit de Catalunya almost half a second faster than last year’s Mercedes did in pre-season testing last year.

The session was stopped on four separate occasions due to red flags. Sebaswtian Vettel as the first to hit trouble after a power unit failure on his Ferrari.

After the engine problem during the morning session which stopped Sebastian Vettel on track, the SF1000 was back up and running with its new power unit at the start of the afternoon session. A big four hours then awaited for the Maranello team who have admitted this lunchtime via Mattia Binotto that there is certainly early work to do to get their car in better shape.

By the end of the day, Sebastian Vettel completed 100 laps at the Circuit of Catalunya, gathering data and information which the Italian side now needs to focus on and analyze back in Maranello, ahead of the last testing session. Next Wednesday the cars will return on track at the Circuit of Catalunya and Scuderia Ferrari will hope to at least close the gap to rivals Mercedes and Red Bull, ahead of the start of the 2020 Formula One season.

TEST DAY 3

1. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:15.732, 65 laps, C5 tyres
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.784, 70 laps, C5
3. Esteban Ocon, Renault, +1.370, 76 laps, C4
4. Lance Stroll, Racing Point, +1.606, 113 laps, C4
5. Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri, +1.695, 62 laps, C4
6. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, +1.737, 152 laps, C5
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, +1.842, 92 laps, C4
8. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +1.904, 86 laps, C2
9. Alexander Albon, Red Bull, +2.422, 80 laps, C2
10. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +2.481, 56 laps, C2
11. Carlos Sainz, McLaren, +2.542, 76 laps, C2
12. Romain Grosjean, Haas, +2.648, 48 laps, C3
13. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +2.652, 100 laps, C3
14. Lando Norris, McLaren, +2.722, 48 laps, C3
15. Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +3.272, 71 laps, C3
16. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +3.977, 4 laps, C2