Venezuelan Pastro Maldonado was fastest for the second time in three days of pre-season testing in Barcelona on another miserable day for the McLaren-Honda partnership.
Lotus’ Maldonado made the most of his time on the supersoft tyres to record the quickest lap of the test at the Circuit de Catalunya in 1min 24.348sec.
“I don’t now how quick the car is against the others, but it is easy to see it is quicker than last year,” said Maldonado who finished in the points just once in 19 races last season.
“We were the slowest last year on the straights but for sure we will have a good top speed through the season.
“The difference is quite huge from last year. It feels completely different.”
Teenage sensation Max Verstappen was second fastest in the Toro Rosso, whilst world champion Lewis Hamilton was third quickest as he pounded out another 101 laps for Mercedes despite still suffering the after-effects of a fever that restricted his running on day one.
“I’m definitely not 100 percent and I’m looking forward to going home tonight and sleeping for the next couple of days,” said Hamilton, who will hand over the reins to teammate Nico Rosberg on Sunday.
“It was a hard day out there physically, but I’ll make sure I’m better for next week and come back stronger.”
Maldonado, Verstappen, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kyvat in the Red Bull also surpassed a century of laps on the day.
However, McLaren were left floundering once more as they suffered from the recurrence of a faulty seal that dogged them on day one in Barcelona.
Jenson Button managed 24 laps and in the slowest time of the 10 drivers on show, meaning all seven other teams on the grid have now completed more than double the mileage of the Woking-based outfit through seven days of testing.
“It hasn’t been my day. We had a similar problem to the one we faced on Thursday, with the faulty MGU-K seal, so the afternoon running was limited to aero testing and pit stop practice,” said Button.
“I still can’t comment on where the car will be when everything is running smoothly, as I haven’t had the chance to run it properly without meeting problems.”
After Sunday there is a final four-day test in Barcelona next week before the season gets underway for real at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15.
Results from day three of the second pre-season test in Barcelona:
1. Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Lotus) 1:24.348 (104 laps)
2. Max Verstappen (NED/Toro Rosso) 1:24.739 (129 laps)
3. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:26.076 (101 laps)
4. Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber) 1:26.340 (53 laps)
5. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) 1:26.407 (105 laps)
6. Daniil Kyvat (RUS/Red Bull) 1:26.589 (112 laps)
7. Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams) 1:26.912 (55 laps)
8. Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Force India) 1:27.333 (81 laps)
9. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Williams) 1:27.556 (49 laps)
10. Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren) 1:29.151 (24 laps)