Daniel Ricciardo’s first day of running at the second pre-season Formula 1 test in Bahrain saw the Australian manage just 28 laps in Red Bull’s troublesome RB10.
Following a relatively productive 59 laps from team-mate Sebastian Vettel on Thursday, Ricciardo saw 23 laps during Friday morning before remaining garage-bound for much of the afternoon.
The team later revealed that it had uncovered yet another new issue with the RB10, which has been beset largely by energy recovery system related problems since its debut at Jerez, Spain, earlier this month.
“We made more changes over lunch and in doing so we came across a mechanical issue that we hadn’t encountered before and because of its nature it means we have to take the car apart,” said the team’s race engineering co-ordinator, Andy Damerum.
“As everyone in the pit lane is finding out this is a long process, so we decided to suspend running in the afternoon so that we can be ready for the final day.
“These issues are of course frustrating but this was unrelated to the others so it’s just a case of tackling each issue as it appears.”
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Ricciardo, who has joined Red Bull’s main team this year following two seasons at Toro Rosso, remains upbeat with one day of Bahrain’s test still remaining.
“I did some good laps and those came off the back of the more than 50 laps Seb did yesterday, so we’re getting there,” he said.
“Obviously, I would have liked to do more this afternoon but we still have tomorrow ahead of us and it’s important to be ready for that.
“The car is definitely making progress though. It’s coming together bit by bit.
“We’d love a big chunk all at once but obviously that’s not the way these things work, so we have to be a bit patient for now.
“However, it is coming and we’re heading in the right direction. Tomorrow it would be nice to get more laps in and then roll on next week.”
The Mercedes and McLaren were again the class of the field during the day, with Lewis Hamilton ending up 0.7s clear of Jenson Button at the top of the order.
The duo completed 67 and 103 laps respectively, while the Williams of Felipe Massa made it a Mercedes-powered trifecta.
The Renault-powered entries of Toro Rosso, Lotus, Red Bull and Caterham filled seventh through 10th on the time sheets, with the Pastor Maldonado-driven Lotus twice causing red flags by stopping on the circuit.
See below for the Day 3 times from Bahrain
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.263s | 67 | |
| 2 | Jenson Button | McLaren Mercedes | 1:34.976s | 0.713s | 103 |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:37.066s | 2.803s | 60 |
| 4 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber Ferrari | 1:37.180s | 2.917s | 96 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:37.367s | 3.104s | 57 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:37.476s | 3.213s | 44 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso Renault | 1:38.974s | 4.711s | 57 |
| 8 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus Renault | 1:39.642s | 5.379s | 26 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Renault | 1:40.781s | 6.518s | 28 |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham Renault | 1:42.130s | 7.867s | 98 |
| 11 | Max Chilton | Marussia Ferrari | 1:46.672s | 12.409s | 4 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams Mercedes | no time | – | 55 |
