Lewis Hamilton finished the first test of the 2022 Formula One season top of the timesheets after a blistering end to the third day.
There was a sense that the seven-time champion was still holding something back as he clocked a 1:19.138 late in the afternoon session, putting himself above new teammate George Russell in second.
While lap times in Barcelona are not necessarily the most vital component of the week’s running, Mercedes can take heart from leaving Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen third and fourth, respectively.
Also useful for the reigning constructors’ champions is the fact that no team topped the 160 laps Hamilton and Russell combined to pile on, with the former’s total of 94 the joint-best of the entire grid.
After a surprisingly quiet first day saw Lando Norris claim the quickest time, Charles Leclerc was fastest on Thursday before a number of teams were hit by reliability problems on day three.
Fernando Alonso’s Alpine was enveloped in smoke as the Spaniard was forced to stop in the morning with a hydraulics issue that ended their day.
Aston Martin and Haas also packed up early after technical faults that contributed to five red flags in the morning.
On a day when F1 announced the cancellation of the 2022 Russian Grand Prix, talk turning back to the track action will be much-needed by the sport.
Teams now retreat to their factories before the second and last Bahrain test begins on March 10, with the first Grand Prix at the same track later that month.
