F1 - General discussion and 2017

The Ferrari's now on the back of the truck. Hopefully this gets cleared away quickly and we can get on with the last two hours of today's test.

Here's a lap count update with two hours to go:

1 Bottas (70)
2 Massa (63)
3 Raikkonen (52)
4 Verstappen (37)
5 Hamilton (41)
6 Hulkenberg (61)
7 Perez (70)
8 Sainz (64)
9 Grosjean (57)
10 Stroll (33)
11 Wehrlein (59)
12 Alonso (31)
13 Ericsson (16)

1 Bottas Mercedes 1m19.310s
2 Massa Williams 1m19.420s
3 Raikkonen Ferrari 1m20.406s
4 Verstappen Red Bull 1m20.432s
5 Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.702s
6 Hulkenberg Renault 1m21.213s
7 Perez Force India 1m21.297s
8 Sainz Toro Rosso 1m21.872s
9 Stroll Williams 1m22.217s
10 Grosjean Haas 1m22.428s
11 Wehrlein Sauber 1m23.000s
12 Alonso McLaren 1m23.041s
13 Ericsson Sauber 1m25.042s
Palmer Renault No time
 
Marshals on the scene to dig the Ferrari out of the gravel.
C6Z3nu8WQAAe_ND.jpg
 
The headlines halfway through this session:

• Raikkonen goes off in the Ferrari and causes a red flag
• Hamilton, in for Bottas this afternoon, has an ultra-soft run interrupted by the stoppage
• Red Bull completes an engine change and Verstappen emerges after a four-hour delay
• Alonso also reappears in the McLaren-Honda after little running
• Stroll chalks up 33 laps on his first appearance this week
• Ericsson takes over from Wehrlein in the Sauber

The truck leaves the scene with the Ferrari on board. It seems as though there was minor contact with the barrier when Raikkonen went off.

No mess to clean up so hopefully we'll be under way again soon.
 
That's not the first time we've seen a car off at the fast Turn Three this winter - but Kimi's the first to reach the barriers.

He's had a relatively minor impact with the tyre conveyor belt, but that'll still take Ferrari a little while once they get the car back to the garage to change the front wing and clear the car of gravel.

C6Z49L8XEAIvvcr.jpg
 
The Ferrari's just being delivered back to the garage.

Ericsson and Grosjean waste no time in getting on with it. This is much better.

Verstappen's also back out there, so looks like all is well with the Red Bull again.
 
Into the pits, down the pitlane, pull to one side, do a practice start, then go.

Err, go, Max. Verstappen's not moving at the end of the pitlane. After a long hold, he creeps away.

That was a bit weird.
 
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The stricken Ferrari is back in pitlane. Pic: LAT

As is Ericsson in the pits in the Sauber.
 
A personal best in the first sector from Stroll.

Stroll dips below the 1m22s mark, posting a personal-best 1m21.927s.

He stays ninth, but is now within a tenth of Sainz's Toro Rosso.

And now Stroll pits, leaving Verstappen as the only runner on track.
 
Red Bull there or thereabouts?

Red Bull had a low-key start to testing, looking about a second or so off the pace in the first week. But from the start of play on Tuesday, Daniel Ricciardo was looking much better. On the soft tyres, he was right there with Ferrari and Mercedes. Unlike them, he also tried both the super-soft and ultra-soft, and was slower on the former and not much quicker on the latter.

“We learned something from that,” the Australian said, without elaborating. “In terms of where we were last week I feel that the car is starting to come alive more. At the moment there is no big secret or anything. We are not holding 2 seconds in our pocket, but we definitely feel that we can still get more out of the car.” So where did he think Red Bull were compared to the fastest?

“Not sure,” he said, “but we are there, thereabouts. Yeah, we are close enough.” Interesting.
 
Before that red flag, Fernando Alonso had just returned to the pits after McLaren's first four laps of the afternoon.

Renault remain stuck in the garage though with Jolyon Palmer yet to complete a lap since the break, despite the team tweeting a picture of him in the RS17 an hour ago.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are the only men on track at the moment, though Lance Stroll has only just returned to the pits after his quick stint.

The teenager improves slightly, to a 1:21.927, but remains in ninth place.
 
Verstappen's started this run with a couple of 1m25s. We think this could be the start of a longer run.
 
Lance Stroll has clocked in a 1:21.927, which still leaves him in ninth. 38 laps so far for the Canadian

With that, Williams also breaks through the 100 lap barrier, joining Mercedes in the select group.
 
A nice, long, informative tweet from Ferrari to clear everything up...

Scuderia Ferrari ✔ @ScuderiaFerrari
#Kimi7 went off track at turn 3. He’s ok. #F1Testing
 
Palmer has appeared for the first time in the Renault.

Perez is back out and set to become the busiest driver of the day. Just reward for his crowd-pleasing antics earlier.
 
Super-soft tyres and a 1m26.822s to kick things off for Palmer in the Renault.
 
Raikkonen did hit the barriers in that off. It broke the front wing and damaged the left-front suspension/steering. Slight damage to the left-rear. Right side completely fine.

Our on-the-spot snapper captured Raikkonen inspecting the rear of the SF70-H before it was winched back to the garage, suggesting something was potentially amiss when he entered the right-hander and went straight on.

C6Z8qGVWcAAHraa.jpg
 
Palmer improves to a 1m26.545s.

Grosjean's out there and on a personal best lap.

Verstappen stops on the eighth lap of that run. Wheel guns fire, and then he's set on his way again.

Grosjean improves to a 1m21.887s. That splits Sainz and Stroll.

Alonso's out there now on softs in the McLaren-Honda.

Verstappen took on medium tyres in that pitstop.

A couple of improvements – Ericsson to a 1m23.384s, Palmer to a 1m26.523s.

Another Palmer improvement, to a 1m26.462s.
 
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