Hamilton set a pair of fastest laptimes, finishing with a 1m19.138s set in the final 10 minutes on the C5 tyres, to eclipse Russell’s 1m19.233s from the morning session and claim the fastest lap time of the Barcelona pre-season test.
Russell’s effort, also set on C5 tyres, came under threat from both his Mercedes teammate and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, with the pair putting in a late surge once the track dried out sufficiently from a Pirelli wet tyre test which started the afternoon running.
Despite water tankers saturating the Barcelona circuit during the lunch break, only three wet tyre laps were completed – all by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo – before he led the switch to intermediate tyres.
All drivers stuck to the green-walled compound for the opening 90 minutes of the afternoon session until the track improved sufficiently for a return to dry tyres.
That allowed Hamilton to set the fastest overall time for a Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Perez in third after he pushed Red Bull…
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