Hamilton tops busy final day in Barcelona

Mercedes has topped the final day’s running at Formula 1’s first pre-season test in Spain courtesy of Lewis Hamilton.

The 2017 world champion was half a second clear of the field in a day that saw both he and team-mate Valtteri Bottas sharing time in the car.

With the weather having improved significantly from the previous day, 15 drivers set a combined total of more than 1,100 laps as they made up for the lack of track time on Wednesday.

“Today has been positive, I’m so happy that I could get in the car and I’m really excited that I could get some running in,” said Hamilton, who lapped the circuit de Catalunya 69 times,

“It’s been the first time today that I’ve really been out to learn a lot more about the car and its characteristics. I got to see what she’s like and stretch her legs a little bit.

“Driving a new car is like trying to crack a new code: you have to figure out which different techniques you need to get the most out of it. But the W09 feels like last year’s big sister.”

With Bottas chalking up 60 laps, the Mercedes squad banked a valuable 129 laps, the fourth most of any team for the day.

Red Bull endured an interrupted day, that saw Max Verstappen set his first time only three hours into the session.

An off later in the day drew the red flag, and saw the Dutchman forced back into the garage, with just 35 laps under his belt.

Between Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso, McLaren totalled 161 laps, the most of anyone for the day, and only 47 laps off the total they managed across all four days of the test in 2017.

Ironically, Toro Rosso enjoyed a solid test, adding another 147 laps to its tally on the final day courtesy of Pierre Gasly.

Teams will now have the weekend to mull over what they’ve learned in the opening four days, with a second four-day test scheduled to begin on Tuesday.