Barcelona second test day three: Vettel fastest, Hamilton chases

Sebastian Vettel ensured that Ferrari returned to the top of the timing boards on the third day of the second - and final - winter test in Barcelona, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton the only other driver to be within a second of the German's time.

Vettel completed 156 laps, setting a time of 1:19.024 on the ultra-soft Pirelli tyres, a fraction over three tenths quicker than Brit Hamilton could manage on the same compound, with Ferrari continuing their strong pre-season form.

Esteban Ocon claimed third for Force India and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat and Haas' Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top five.

McLaren-Honda had a topsy-turvy day, with Stoffel Vandoorne managing to set a relatively competitive lap time - breaking into the 1 minute 21 second barrier, completing 48 laps on his way to seventh fastest.

Vettel's lap was the fastest seen in winter testing, beating Valtteri Bottas' attempt yesterday, and with murmurs that the Scuderia may not be showing their full potential still, the signs are ominous for the rest of the pack.

However, Vettel denied that his side are the team to beat, conceding that Mercedes have the better package.

"It's still early days," the German told Autosport. "If you look at the amount of laps Mercedes has done, if you look historically how slow they go in the testing, how much they were able to ramp it up for the races, it's clear."

One of the pre-season favourites, Red Bull are still playing catch-up; although Daniel Ricciardo was only 1.8 seconds off the ultimate pace on a set of softs, enough for sixth. However, he couldn't improve on that time over the course of the afternoon - with the Australian one of many front-runners who opted to run race simulation programmes.

Despite finishing in fourth, Kvyat and Toro Rosso's day wasn't all plain sailing. The Russian stopped at Turn 5 early in the afternoon session, but that didn't dampen his mood.

"It's the first time I can say I've really had some fun out there this year! It was good to be able to complete so many laps," he admitted. Promising indeed after a trying first week.

Continuing their pleasing efforts over winter, Haas made the top five with Magnussen, the Dane managing to hit triple figures for laps.

Bottas took over from Hamilton in the afternoon, but due to a race-themed programme of action, he could only muster eighth with a 1:21.819.

One driver who didn't manage to even set a time was Nico Hulkenberg. Jolyon Palmer's Renault stopped at Turn 10 in the wake of a power unit change - meaning the German couldn't set foot out on track in the afternoon.

Whilst there was improvement, McLaren and Vandoorne stopped twice in the morning with electrical problems. Furthermore, the Belgian only managed 16 laps in the afternoon.

Williams ran both Felipe Massa - who was fastest yesterday - and Lance Stroll. Propping up the pack, both drivers carried heavy fuel loads and racked up a solid 165 laps between them.

Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson were ninth and eleventh respectively for Sauber.