• First Barcelona test - Day 3

Maldonado tops morning times at Barcelona

Pastor Maldonado was fastest in the morning session on Thursday © Sutton Images

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Pastor Maldonado put Williams at the top of the testing timesheets on Thursday morning after clocking a lap 0.217s faster than Nico Hulkenberg's best effort on Wednesday.

Maldonado used supersoft tyres just before the lunch break to set the fastest time yet at this week's Barcelona test with a 1:22.391. Although the teams are secretive about their programmes at tests, Maldonado appeared to be on a qualifying simulation run with a short run on soft tyres followed by a five lap run on the supersofts with two hot laps and a slower one in between.

His time was comfortably quickest at the lunch break with Michael Schumacher second fastest, 0.993s adrift. Kamui Kobayashi was third fastest after setting a 1:23.582 that stood as the fastest time earlier in the session, but after 59 laps of running the Sauber stopped on track with a problem, bringing the morning session to an early end.

Jenson Button reacquainted himself with the McLaren MP4-27 and set a 1:23.918, which was good enough for fourth fastest. His time was about a tenth of a second off Hamilton's best, who spent Wednesday performing longer runs and a race simulation.

Jean-Eric Vergne was also making his first appearance at this week's test and set the fifth fastest time in the Toro Rosso with 42 laps in total. He was 0.338s faster than Felipe Massa's best time in the Ferrari as the Italian team continued running comparison tests to get a better understanding of the F2012. Massa had a mechanical problem about an hour before lunch but the team managed to get him out again for the final 20 minutes.

Mark Webber took over at Red Bull from Sebastian Vettel, setting the seventh fastest time but completing just 26 laps. The team concentrated on pit stop practice in the morning before the car disappeared back into the garage ahead of lunch.

Timo Glock returned to action for the first time this year to complete his single scheduled day of testing before the new car is launched next week. He completed 51 laps in last year's Marussia and set the eighth fastest time.

Meanwhile, rivals Caterham had a tricky morning after discovering a suspension problem on Vitaly Petrov's car early in the session. The mechanics worked hard to resolve the issue and Petrov was back on track roughly an hour before lunch, setting the ninth fastest time.

Force India and Paul di Resta rounded off the order with a 1:27.180, set while gathering aerodynamic data early in the morning. When the team was ready to focus on set-up work part of the car's engine cover came off causing a brief red flag while the piece of bodywork was recovered. Di Resta then spent much of the morning in the garage with the team tweeting: "We will take an early lunch today and Paul should be back out after the break."

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