Bottas lowers best time as Raikkonen crashes

Valtteri Bottas set a new fastest time for pre-season testing as his fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen crashed on the second day of the final Formula 1 pre-season test in Barcelona.

Amid cool conditions on Wednesday morning, Bottas started the day on ultrasoft tires and quickly dropped in to the 1m20s before Tuesday's pacesetter Felipe Massa topped the times for a spell. Bottas then posted a new fastest time of testing with a 1m19.310s on supersoft tires as he completed 70 laps before handing over to teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Massa continued his strong form from the opening day with the second-fastest time, just 0.110s slower than Bottas although the Williams was on the ultrasoft tire. The former teammates were the only two drivers to get under the 1m20s mark, with Raikkonen third fastest on a 1:20.406.

Raikkonen's best time was set on soft tires, but it was a far from smooth day for both team and driver on the Finn's penultimate day in the car. After a fluid systems check confined the Ferrari to the garage during the middle of the day, Raikkonen then lost control at Turn 3 and spun into the barrier with 90 minutes remaining. While he was unharmed, the crash ended Raikkonen's running.

Max Verstappen was fourth-fastest overall and offered Red Bull further encouragement as he completed the most laps of any individual driver. While Massa and Sebastian Vettel managed 168 laps on day one, Verstappen's total of 102 was somewhat limited by a number of stoppages, including his own at Turn 12 with 20 minutes left in the session.

While Verstappen had the highest individual total, Mercedes, Williams and Sauber all completed more mileage, having split the running between their respective cars. Mercedes led the way with 149 laps as Hamilton added 79 to Bottas' total, but the triple world champion was only sixth overall as he posted his best time on the soft compound.

Between Hamilton and Verstappen was Lance Stroll, with the rookie enjoying a solid return to the Williams after a tricky opening week. Crashes marred each of his opening two days in the car during the first test and led to the team being unable to run on the final day due to chassis damage. Stroll managed 59 largely trouble-free laps on Wednesday, however, posting a 1:20.579 on supersoft tires.

Below Hamilton, former Force India teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were the only other two drivers within two seconds of the benchmark time set by Bottas, using the supersoft tire to do so. Hulkenberg enjoyed a productive morning in the Renault as he managed 61 laps, while Perez was the only driver other than Verstappen to reach three figures as he finished the session 0.084s further back in the Force India.

Once again, the team with the lowest lap total was McLaren, as Fernando Alonso only managed 46 laps. The Spaniard is only scheduled to have one more day in the car, but only has a total 148 laps to his name – one fewer than Mercedes managed on during Wednesday alone. The lack of running was attributed to a number of setup changes, with Alonso carrying out short runs in order to gather data.

The session ended under red flags due to another stoppage with less than 10 minutes remaining as Marcus Ericsson came to a halt at Turn 8. The Swede had again taken over from Pascal Wehrlein after the new Sauber driver (pictured above) managed 59 laps in the morning session as he continued his recovery from a back injury.