Nico Rosberg put his Mercedes at the top of the timesheets as pre-season running for the 2011 season came to an end at the Ciruit de Catalunya on Saturday. The German driver put in a late effort to narrowly beat the FW33 of Pastor Maldonado, who had been the pace-setter for much of the afternoon session in Barcelona.
After most of the field packed up to prepare for the first race in Melbourne last night, McLaren, Ferrari, Williams and Mercedes were the four teams who remained on-track for a final day of testing in Spain. Hispania Racing was set to debut its new F111 today, but had to cancel its plans when key car components were not allowed through Spanish customs.
Heavy overnight rain had drenched the surroundings of Montmeló ahead of the final day of running, with torrential conditions failing to ease off during the early hours. As the session officially got underway, surface water made any true running impossible, with only installation laps taking place during the first few hours.
Lewis Hamilton was the only man to complete a flying lap before the lunch break, with the McLaren driver posting a time of 1:57.765 during a sequence of laps in his MP4-26. It was not until the middle of the afternoon until the Briton improved however, taking over ten seconds off his previous best lap-time, setting a 1:47.304 to move further ahead as the rain continued to fall.
Hamilton was eventually joined by two of the other three drivers out on track today, with Maldonado climbing to the top of the timesheets. After a string of laps the GP2 graduate consolidated his position with an effort of 1:46.157. Rosberg quickly joined the pair on the timing screens in his newly-updated MGP-W02, circulating exactly 1.6 seconds slower than Maldonado.
Rosberg took over from team-mate Michael Schumacher for the afternoon session, and went on to edge out Maldonado in a last gasp effort. Despite the conditions masking drivers' pace even further today, Mercedes will leave Barcelona in a more positive mood than it arrived, with its drivers topping the timesheets on the final two days of running.
With the pre-season testing period now over, all attentions will turn towards the Australian Grand Prix in a fortnight's time. HRT will once again arrive at the opening race with no prior running of its car, with the outfit's 2011 challenger set to be driven for the first time during Friday practice in Melbourne.
Source: http://www.gpupdate.net