• Barcelona Test Day Three
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Hamilton fastest in tricky conditions

ESPNF1 Staff
February 20, 2011 « Ecclestone will let Bahrain decide on grand prix | »
The track started off wet but conditions improved towards the end of the morning session © Sutton Images
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McLaren's Lewis Hamilton made use of a drying track just before lunch on the third day of testing at Barcelona to set the fastest lap of the morning session.

A wet track greeted the teams at 09:00 on Sunday, giving the drivers another chance to get to grips with the new Pirelli wet and intermediate tyres. From the off the conditions were treacherous and several drivers ran wide before the session was brought to a complete halt when Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado spun into a gravel trap. The red flags came out again when fellow rookie Sergio Perez tipped his Sauber into a spin and twice more for Felipe Massa later in the morning, who proved it was not just the new drivers struggling.

But despite the lack of grip, cars continued to pound round the Circuit de Catalunya and with about 15 minutes remaining in the morning session it was dry enough for slicks. Predictably the lap times tumbled and Hamilton went fastest with a 1:28.053. Toro Rosso test driver Daniel Ricciardo was just 0.276 off the McLaren in second place, making his mark before handing the car to Sebastien Buemi in the afternoon. Adrian Sutil was third fastest in the Force India ahead of Vitaly Petrov in the Renault.

Red Bull's Mark Webber completed the most laps with 64. His team was hoping to do another qualifying and race simulation as it did with Sebastian Vettel on Saturday, but the wet weather appears to have altered its plans. Despite looking good in the wet conditions, Webber could only manage the seventh fastest time on a last-minute run on slick tyres.

Lap times should continue to drop when the session gets back underway at 14:00 local time.

Times

Driver Car Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren MP4-26 1:28.053 42
2. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso STR6 1:28.329 42
3. Adrian Sutil Force India VJM04 1:28.422 56
4. Vitaly Petrov Renault R31 1:29.648 38
5. Sergio Perez Sauber C30 1:30.374 41
6. Mark Webber Red Bull RB7 1:30.497 46
7. Narain Karthikeyan HRT F110 1:30.722 32
8. Timo Glock Virgin MVR-02 1:31.436 56
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 150th Italia 1:35.212 42
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams FW33 1:43.121 11
11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes W02 1:43.268 31
12. Jarno Trulli Lotus T128 1:43.860 24

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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