F1: Maldonado leads Barcelona testing

Pastor Maldonado ended the two-day Barcelona Formula 1 test at the top of the times for Lotus. The Venezuelan driver was fastest during the morning's running, setting a best lap of 1m26.311s on soft rubber.

Maldonado was bumped from top spot by Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg shortly after the one-hour lunch break, with the German posting a best time of 1m26.187s on medium-compound Pirellis. But the Venezuelan reclaimed top spot with a lap of 1m24.871s on his final run of the day using super-soft rubber, leaving him fastest by 0.934 seconds from Rosberg, who had improved his time by almost four tenths.

The top two drivers both completed 102 laps during a busy day of running. Mercedes had started the day trying out an experimental "megaphone" exhaust before reverting to a conventional tailpipe.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen made amends for limited running on Tuesday, completing 93 laps on his way to fifth fastest ahead of Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez.

Susie Wolff, having her first taste of the Williams-Mercedes FW36, ended up fifth fastest using soft tires, completing 55 laps. But she did cause a red flag during the morning when she spun into the gravel at Turn 10.

Marussia driver Jules Bianchi returned to the track in the closing stages of running after being hit with a mechanical problem to put in the sixth fastest time, also on soft rubber. Red Bull had a delayed start to the day, but Sebastian Vettel managed 72 laps and ended up 3.102s off Maldonado's pace.

Force India driver Daniel Juncadella was eighth fastest, with two trips to the gravel traps causing red flags during the day. He ended up 0.163s quicker than McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne, participating in his first official F1 test, with both teams conducting tyre test work for Pirelli. Daniil Kvyat was slowest after only completing 21 laps, twice stopping on track and triggering red flags.

Only 10 cars ran on Wednesday, with Caterham pulling out because of chassis damage sustained when Kamui Kobayashi crashed on Tuesday afternoon. Robin Frijns had been scheduled to drive on the second day.