LIVE | Day three of the 2022 Formula 1 winter test in Barcelona
Live
On Friday, the third and final test day in Barcelona will take place. There will be no live footage from the test in Barcelona this year, but at GPblog we'll keep you up to date with the very latest developments all day long in our liveblog! The Formula 1 teams and drivers will get one more three-day test event in March, before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at the same venue a week later.
Liveblog | 2022 Barcelona Winter Test Day Three
One last chance to impress
McLaren and Ferrari have impressed the most so far during the test in Barcelona. The two teams have exchanged places at the top of the leaderboard throughout the two days, and have also recorded a high mileage. On Wednesday, Lando Norris set the fastest time for McLaren and Charles Leclerc set the fastest time on Thursday.
Max Verstappen had a strong opening day and recorded 147 laps for Red Bull Racing. However, Sergio Perez caused the first red flag stoppage of the winter tests on Thursday and therefore missed valuable track time. Christian Horner's team confirmed the car had a gearbox problem. Because of the delay, Perez only recorded 78 laps across the eight hour day. The lowest mileage out of all the teams. Both Verstappen and Perez will take to the track on Friday, and will be looking to recover the loss.
Mercedes have also been relatively quiet through the tests so far. They haven't visibly had issues, but they haven't set the world alight either. George Russell believes Mercedes are definitely behind McLaren and Ferrari in the order but refused to shed any more light on the matter than that. Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton finished bottom of the timesheet on Thursday.
Haas and Alfa Romeo had improved days compared to Wednesday as eight out of the ten teams recorded 100 laps or more in the Barcelona sun.
What's to come?
Teams have been reluctant to use the softest C5 tyre in the Pirelli range. There's a small chance we might see those for some low fuel runs in the morning. Rain is forecast in Barcelona for the afternoon, but if it doesn't fall the track will be wet anyway. Pirelli want to carry out a wet weather test with the new tyres and will therefore spray the track artificially should it be needed.
News is also expected about the future of the 2022 Russian Grand Prix. Following the conflict in Ukraine, Formula 1 bosses hosted an emergency meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the race in September. Haas will not run with their Russian livery on Friday. We will keep you updated with the events in the liveblog.