Circuit de Catalunya: 2013 Testing Day Four

As the final day in Barcelona came to an end, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes clocked the fastest lap of day four with a time of 1m 23.282s in cold and wet conditions.

Heavy downpours resulted in the first two hours of running being infected by red flags as all the drivers had issues keeping their cars on the slippery circuit. However though, track conditions did improved and, in a flurry of activity before lunch, Hamilton jumped to the top of the timesheets with a short run on medium-compound tyres. 

Within the morning session, there were no fewer than five red flags, with six cars encountering problems. First up was Felipe Massa who slid off in into the gravel at turn four just ten minutes in to the day's running. He was followed by Giedo van der Garde (who ran wide out of the final corner and stopped just before the barrier).

With rain continuing to lightly fall, Esteban Gutierrez was the next driver to cause a stoppage on track as he ended up in the gravel at turn five. And yet, strangely enough, his wasn't the only car that needed recovering as Mark Webber in his RB9 came to a halt between turns nine and ten at the same time.

No sooner had the pit lane light gone green then Jean-Eric Vergne followed Gutierrez's move and soon was seen going into the turn five gravel trap on his out lap.

Even with ending the day on the top of the timesheet, Hamilton managed to cause a red flag himself late in the day as his car stopped between turns five and six (most likely as part of a low fuel test) while the only other stoppages in the afternoon were caused by Gutierrez (running off in to the gravel at turn four) and Jules Bianchi (stopping on the pit straight hence bring the test to an end a few minutes early).

Jenson Button ended up with the second-quickest time of the day for McLaren, with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne in third.

Jules Bianchi did his chances a lot of good in hopes of landing the second seat at Force India by ending the day in fourth place, while Esteban Gutierrez clocked the fourth-fastest time for Sauber. Giedo van der Garde took advantage of the day's weather conditions to deliver Caterham’s best position on the timesheets in testing so far in a cool sixth spot.

Filling out the final position in the top ten where Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Marussia’s Max Chilton and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean. 

Catching many teams and fans by surprise was the William's team. With their full team with them today on track, Williams decided to focus mainly on pit-stop practices instead.

Though the rain fell today ( and even some reports of small hail) it did allow the teams to run Pirelli’s Intermediate and Full Wet tyres. Another very useful opportunity ahead of the unpredictable weather often encountered within the opening races. 

*** McLaren have announced that they will remain in Barcelona for a second session next week (February 28 - March 3). Driving duties will be split Sergio-Jenson-Sergio-Jenson, and the car will run in Melbourne specifications for the first time.

Times

	Driver	Car	Best time	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes W04	1:23.282	52
2.	Jenson Button	McLaren MP4-28	1:23.633	70
3.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso STR8	1:24.071	80
4.	Jules Bianchi	Force India VMJ06	1:25.732	61
5.	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber C32	1:26.239	96
6.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham CT03	1:27.429	50
7.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F138	1:27.553	80
8.	Mark Webber	Red Bull RB9	1:27.616	64
9.	Max Chilton	Marussia MR02	1:29.902	51
10.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus E21	1:34.800	41
11.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams FW34		23
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams FW34		13

Amalgamated times:

	Driver	Car	Best time	Laps
1.	Sergio Perez	McLaren MP4-28	1:17.789	227
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F138	1:18.148	123
3.	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber C32	1:18.175	56
4.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus E21	1:18.218	149
5.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB9	1:18.565	198
6.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes W04	1:18.669	252
7.	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus E21	1:18.760	177
8.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams FW34	1:18.766	162
9.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes W04	1:18.861	120
10.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams FW34	1:18.905	160
11.	Jenson Button	McLaren MP4-28	1:18.944	179
12.	Adrian Sutil	Force India VJM06	1:19.003	240
13.	Mark Webber	Red Bull RB9	1:19.134	153
14.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso STR8	1:19.303	61
15.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso STR8	1:19.338	174
16.	Paul di Resta	Force India VJM06	1:19.502	178
17.	Max Chilton	Marussia MR02	1:19.851	178
18.	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber C32	1:20.316	51
19.	Jules Bianchi	Force India VJM06	1:20.693	155
20.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham CT03	1:21.105	166
21.	Charles Pic	Caterham CT03	1:21.226	113
22.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F138	1:21.269	107