Onto a 20th lap of @Circuitcat_eng for @LewisHamilton – he's made of tough stuff this fella! #F1 pic.twitter.com/KrAl9wnLrx
He duly completed 89 laps and ominously for Mercedes’ rivals for the upcoming season set the fifth fastest time, despite running on slower medium compound tires.
The 30-year-old Briton was just over a third of a second slower than the one minute 24.574 seconds posted by Ricciardo, who set the time on a soft tire, generally reckoned to be about one second faster per lap than the medium.
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Carlos Sainz Jr, the offspring of the former world rally champion, drove for Toro Rosso and racked up 100 laps although triggering a red flag when he went off and into the gravel on Turn 9 at the Spanish circuit.
Testing continues for the next two days at the same venue and the teams return from next Thursday for a final four days to iron out problems before the season starts for real.
