Barcelona Saturday: Perez ends day on top
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| Sergio Perez in the C31 Sauber |
Sergio Perez remained on top of the times for Sauber on day three of the final preseason Formula 1 test at Barcelona on Saturday, despite not improving on his morning mark.
The Mexican, ran a 1m22.094s lap on soft Pirelli rubber, but focused on heavy fuel loads during the afternoon.
The majority of the field opted to concentrate on longer runs in the afternoon and as a result no one went close to bettering Perez's time, although McLaren's Jenson Button managed to climb up to second with a1:22.103.
Daniel Ricciardo completed 130 laps in his Toro Rosso and he managed to produce the third fastest time of the day.
The arrival of some rain midway through the afternoon and Felipe Massa's decision to switch to the intermediates resulted in him going fourth fastest with the Force India of Paul di Resta fifth.
Bruno Senna stopped on the approach to the La Caixa hairpin resulting in the only red flag of the afternoon but the Williams driver still managed to clock the sixth fastest time with Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham seventh.
Mark Webber managed 70 laps in his Red Bull but the Australian was slightly disappointing in eighth while Nico Rosberg was forced to settle for ninth in his Mercedes.
Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen was forced to sit in the garage for over an hour in the morning after his car developed a steering issue. As a result he managed just 43 laps with the former world champion finishing tenth of the ten runners.
Full lap times as of 5pm local time, on day three of the final four-day F1 group test in Barcelona, Spain.
1. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 22.094s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 22.103s
3. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 22.155s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 22.413s
5. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1m 22.446s
6. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault 1m 22.480s
7. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault 1m 22.630s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 22.662s
9. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 22.932s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1m 25.379s