After two relatively quiet days on the track, this Friday the new Formula 1 cars returned to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to contest the last eight hours of this first week of pre-season testing in 2022, before returning to action for the next 10 to March 12 to complete the last three days of testing in Bahrain .
Apparently, the teams were saving all the chaos for this third day of testing. Because it was the last day of testing for 13 days, the teams pushed the cars a little more and that was noticeable in the reliability, as reflected by the five red flags, all of them during the morning session.
Taking advantage of the lunch break, Pirelli artificially watered the Montmeló asphalt to test its new wet tyres, although the track only lasted wet for about 90 minutes, at which point the teams returned to work with dry compounds.
At the end of the last hours of testing with the asphalt completely dry, Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team led the time table with a 1:19.138 with the C5 and more than 90 laps, which added to the 66 of George Russell, second in the time trials, they make the Germans finally leave Barcelona with very good feelings.
The Red Bull Racing team did not use the fastest tire and finished just behind Mercedes, with Sergio Pérez third (1:19.556 in the C4) and Max Verstappen fourth (1:19.756 in the C3). Between both drivers, the energy drink team racked up more than 130 laps and closed the first week of preseason with very positive feelings.
Behind the big coconuts of 2021, Sebastian Vettel took fifth position with a 1:19.824 with the C5 tyre, although he could not go beyond 48 laps due to an engine problem in his Aston Martin that left the team with a taste bittersweet.
Contrary to the previous days, Ferrari did not set the most desiccated times of the day, as Charles Leclerc finished sixth with a 1:19.831 on the C3 compound and Carlos Sainz seventh, on a day where they clearly focused on accumulating kilometres, from In fact, this year they have been the first team to reach 400 laps.
Alex Albon finished eighth and Nicholas Latifi ninth, leaving very positive feelings for Williams both in terms of speed and reliability. The tenth and ninth places were divided between the McLaren drivers, with a best time of 1:20.750 by Daniel Ricciardo with C3 and more than 130 laps between them throughout the day.
Below, Alpine and Fernando Alonso starred in the negative note of the third day of testing due to a hydraulic problem in the A522 that forced them to say goodbye to the tests after only one hour on the track in which the Spanish had done 12 laps with a best time of 1m21.244s, also on the C3 tyre.
Alfa Romeo barely completed 51 laps and Haas did not even reach 10, thus confirming the bad feelings that both structures have left at the start of 2022, since they have failed to stand out in speed, much less in reliability.
Some drivers such as Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Mick Schumacher could not finally take to the track due to problems in their cars that their respective teams had to try to solve during the last hours of the session.
F1 Test Times 2022 in Barcelona – Afternoon of Matchday 3
F1 Test Times 2022 in Barcelona – Afternoon of Matchday 3| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lewis Hamilton |
 |
94 | 1’19.138 | 211.756 | ||
| 2 | George Russell |
 |
66 | 1’19.233 | 0.095 | 0.095 | 211.502 |
| 3 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
74 | 1’19,556 | 0.418 | 0.323 | 210,644 |
| 4 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
59 | 1’19.756 | 0.618 | 0.200 | 210.115 |
| 5 |  Sebastian Vettel |
 |
48 | 1’19.824 | 0.686 | 0.068 | 209.936 |
| 6 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
44 | 1’19.831 | 0.693 | 0.007 | 209.918 |
| 7 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
92 | 1’20,072 | 0.934 | 0.241 | 209,286 |
| 8 |  Alexander Albon |
94 | 1’20.318 | 1.180 | 0.246 | 208.645 | |
| 9 |  Nicholas Latifi |
13 | 1’20,699 | 1,561 | 0.381 | 207,660 | |
| 10 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
 |
86 | 1’20.790 | 1.652 | 0.091 | 207.426 |
| see results | |||||||
Gallery: the best photos from day 3 of the 2022 F1 tests in Barcelona
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
