Pastor Maldonado tops the third day at Barcelona – Formula 1 news
Pastor Maldonado has shown good pace in the new Williams challenger as he went on to set the top time of the day at Barcelona.
Maldonado set the best time of 1 minute 22.391 seconds and completed 106 laps in the day showing good pace and reliability. This is a good sign for a team that has been struggling to perform in the previous couple of seasons.
The day’s second best time was set by Michael Schumacher at 1 minute 23.384 seconds almost a second behind Maldonado’s time but fuel levels are unknown. Schumacher completed 127 laps in the day and was satisfied with the car’s performance of the day.
Sergio Perez showed good pace in Sauber’s C31 on the first two days, Kamui Kobayashi took over from Perez for the third day and straightaway showed good pace and reliability as he set the third fastest time of the day at 1 minute 23.582 seconds with a total
of 99 laps completed. There has not been much talk of Sauber’s good performances and by looking at their pre-season test performances one can assume that the team will prove to be strong underdogs in the season.
Jenson Button took over from Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren MP4-27 and set the fourth fastest time on the day at 1 minute and 23.918 seconds completing 114 laps. Button has remained tight lipped over how the car has behaved so far, even when McLaren faced
technical difficulties Hamilton was open about the faulty car but Button has been quietly working hard at getting the most track time he get prior to the season.
Daniel Ricciardo gave way to Jean-Eric Vergne and the youngster did a good job finishing with the fifth best tie of the day at 1 minute 24.433 seconds completing 78 laps. Behind Vergne was Red Bull driver Mark Webber who may have been a little disappointed
at finishing with the sixth fastest time of the day when the Red Bull car is widely considered to be the fastest car on the track.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa set the same time as Mark Webber but more importantly completed 84 laps without any technical difficulties in the car. Ferrari has had a handful of problems with their new car and Massa was relieved at the end of the day suggesting
the car feels much better than before.
Nico Hulkenberg topped the day before and showed that Force India might prove to be a stronger force in the upcoming season. He gave way to his teammate Paul di Resta for Thursday’s run and he finished the day with the 8th fastest time of the day at 1 minute
and 25.646 seconds and completed 83 laps.
Timo Glock drove the car for Marussia today and was at number nine with the time of 1 minute 26.173 seconds completing 108 laps. Behind Glock was Caterham’s Vitaly Petrov with the best time of 1 minute 26.448 seconds completing 70 laps. Petrov improved on
his previous performance by 0.150 seconds but will require a better improvement in order to move up the grid.
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