Lewis Hamilton reportedly ended the final day of the Formula 1 behind-closed-doors pre-season test in Barcelona fastest, after a seemingly positive week for the Ferrari team.
The Brit was finally able to have some extended running time in the dry weather, having spent the majority his time in the car when rain fell.
Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc have completed some positively long stints in the new SF-25, and despite the lack of importance of fast times at this early stage, buoyed the Scuderia by ending the final session of Day Five in first and third.
The pre-test speculation centred around many supposedly radical features of some of the 11 teams’ cars, Ferrari being one, having allegedly decided on, in effect, running two different cars, one with the steel alloy head on its power unit.
If this has been run in Barcelona, worries about its reliability appear unfounded at this nascent stage of development, with the team having completed some more-than-modest lap counts, according to sources.
Hamilton completed 63 laps, with Leclerc running 78, and the Ferrari-powered Haas of Oliver Bearman totalling a mighty 106.
Reigning World Champion Lando Norris was second, just over two tenths down, with Leclerc a further tenth behind.
Oscar Piastri was fourth, with Max Verstappen fifth with 118 laps, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who completed 160.
Lewis Hamilton was afforded some running in dry weather. Image: Ferrari
Fernando Alonso completed the morning session only in the new Adrian Newey-designed Aston Martin AMR26, ending the day 11th out of 12 cars.
As with every session report this week, all times are subject to confirmation.
View the unofficial testing results below!
PositionDriverTeamTimeLaps1Lewis HamiltonFerrari1:16.348632Lando NorrisMcLaren1:16.594833Charles LeclercFerrari1:16.653784Oscar PiastriMcLaren1:17.446805Max VerstappenRed Bull1:17.5861186Pierre GaslyAlpine1:17.7071607Esteban OconHaas1:18.393858Oliver BearmanHaas1:18.4231069Nico HulkenbergAudi1:19.8707810Gabriel BortoletoAudi1:20.1796611Fernando AlonsoAston Martin1:20.7954912Valtteri BottasCadillac1:20.92054
READ MORE – F1 Test: Charles Leclerc fastest in the morning, Fernando Alonso arrival steals the show