Pastor Maldonado returns to the top the timesheets on Day 3 of the Barcelona Test

At the third day of the Barcelona test, Pastor Maldonado once again set the pace for Lotus for the second time in three days of Barcelona Formula 1 testing on Saturday.

A mid-afternoon run on super-softs took Maldonado to a time of 1.24.348 and therefore beating Toro Rosso’s rookie Max Verstappen who finished the session in second place. Verstappen also used super-softs to set his best time in the morning but he was beaten by Maldonado to three tenths of a second. But Verstappen still led the lap tally for Saturday as he managed 129 laps of the circuit.

Lewis Hamilton finished the session in third place who stuck to medium tyres for his best runs during the session and managed over 100 laps of running. The other big movement on the timing screens in the afternoon came courtesy of Marcus Ericsson who finished the session in fourth place. Ericsson after missing the majority of the morning of the test due to gearbox problems did extremely well to finish in fourth and was able to give Sauber more mileage.

Sebastian Vettel had a smooth end to a day that began with a spin into the gravel on cold tyres on his out-lap. He eventually clocked 105 laps for Ferrari and went fifth fastest ahead of sixth place driver Daniil Kvyat. During the afternoon of the session, Red Bull’s pitboard indicated that a race simulation was in prospect but Daniil Kvyat returned to the garage after two stints had been completed.

Seventh-placed Felipe Massa handed the Williams over to team-mate Valtteri Bottas for the afternoon. But Bottas' programme was dominated by pitstop practice and it was only in the final few minutes that he completed any full flying laps. Bottas slotted in between Pascal Wehrlein who finished in ninth place as the Mercedes test driver completed his on-loan stint at Force India .

McLaren had yet another frustrating day. The new seal intended to resolve the Honda MGU-K problem that had compromised the first part of the week proved no better, and after a long pause in the garage, Jenson Button had to run with reduced power for the rest of the day and ended the session in tenth place.

Button was also involved in a late red flag, when both his McLaren and Verstappen’s Toro Rosso parked in the pit exit in quick succession.

Day Three Timesheet:-

1. Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:24.348, 104 laps
2. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:24.739, 0.391, 129 laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:26.076, 1.728, 101 laps
4. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber ,1:26.340, 1.992, 52 laps
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:26.407, 2.059, 105 laps
6. Daniil Kvyat ,Red Bull ,1:26.589, 2.241, 110 laps
7. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:26.912, 2.564, 55 laps
8. Pascal Wehrlein, Force India,1:27.333, 2.985, 81 laps
9. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:27.556, 3.208, 48 laps
10. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:29.151, 4.803, 24 laps