Barcelona Private Testing 2 Live – Day 3

Second to last day of work for the teams and their drivers on the Barcelona circuit. Holder of the best time during the first two days of this second week of Barcelona testing, Romain Grosjean hands over the seat of his Lotus E20 to Kimi Räikkönen starting today and is not expected to get it back before the start of the season in Melbourne.

If McLaren is expected to participate in the last two days of testing in “Melbourne” configuration, with Jenson Button driving the MP4-27 on Saturday, Red Bull could, according to Sky Sports insiders, provide Mark Webber with a brand new chassis, heavily modified, with new front and rear wings as well as a radical change in exhausts.

Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg will return to their respective cars at Ferrari and Mercedes and will be seeking assurances while Daniel Ricciardo will finally get back behind the wheel of the Toro Rosso STR7, after having left it to his teammate, the Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne, during the first two days of testing.

After sharing his program with Pastor Maldonado on Friday, Bruno Senna should have the FW34 all to himself today, while Paul di Resta will get back behind the wheel of the Force India VJM05 and Perez the Sauber C31.

Standing in at the last minute on Thursday for an ailing Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov is expected to be at the wheel of the Caterham CT01, while it seems unlikely that the HRT F112 will make an appearance this Saturday.

Update: It is finally Kovalainen who will be behind the wheel of the CT01 today. Petrov will wait for Sunday.

N.B.: Exceptionally, this live session will not start until 09:15

Highlights

09:24: Mark Webber sets the first time of the day in 1:28.643 with the modified RB8.

10:00 AM: After Mark Webber, on medium tires, broke the 1:24 mark, Felipe Massa, on soft tires, takes the lead on the timesheet with a 1:23.149.

11:01: On super-soft tires, Massa improves with a 1:22.413: the best time of the week.

12:24 PM: On super-soft tires, Ricciardo improves the best time with a lap of 1:22.155.

**12:25 PM:** On soft tires, Sergio Perez places the Sauber C31 at the top of the timesheet with a 1:22.094.

**12:31 PM:** After a steering column change, Kimi Räikkönen is back on track.

Live commentary of the Barcelona tests

Essais Privés 2012 – Barcelone 2 – Jour 3