Hamilton fastest for Mercedes on day 3 as Red Bull are forced to end another day early

(Mercedes AMG F1)

 

Lewis Hamilton once against proved that the Mercedes AMG F1 Team are the team to beat so far in pre-season testing as the Brit topped the timesheets on day 3 at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. Hamilton completed 66 laps and was the lead a Mercedes 1,2,3.

 

On his first day back in the MP-29, Jenson Button finished the day in second place for McLaren completing the most amount of laps. The 2009 world champion managed to do 102 laps.

 

Felipe Massa took over running the Williams FW36 from team mate Valtteri Bottas this afternoon completing 59 laps and clocking the 3rd fastest time of the day. The Brazilian finished the day just ahead of Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez who was the leading Ferrari powered car. The Mexican had a very productive day for the Swiss team as he completed an impressive 94 laps and was one driver who did not suffer from any major problems today.

 

Ferari's Kimi Raikkonen had a difficult start to the day and spent the morning in the garage as the team worked on fixing a telemetry issue with the F14-T. When the Finn eventually got out on track in the afternoon he managed 43 laps, recording the 6th fastest time of the day just behind Sahara Force India's Sergio Perez.

 

Toro Rosso's rookie Daniil Kvyat was next up next completing 57 laps and finished just ahead of Pastor Maldonado.

 

The Venezuelan brought out the red flags twice and only managed to complete 26 laps in the E22. Daniel Ricciardo took over from Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing today and completed 28 laps in the RB10 as the reigning world champions continue to try and iron out their technical issues.

 

Caterham's rookie driver Marcus Ericsson was next, the Swedish driver completed 96 laps and in doing so he has now gained his FIA Super Licence having completed the FIA mandated 300KM.

 

Marussia's Max Chilton endured a difficult day for the Banbury based team as he could complete 4 laps but he managed to finish ahead of Valtteri Bottas who completed 55 laps for the Williams F1 Team.

 

The first test in Bahrain concludes tomorrow before the final test gets underway once in Bahrain next week before the team's head Down Under for the first race of the season in Melbourne, Australia.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014