F1 tests resume in Spain after snowfall

MONTMELO, SPAIN Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes led the fourth day of Formula One tests on Thursday, when teams made up for lost time caused by bad weather.

It was a busy day at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona after snowfall and cold temperatures kept most cars in the garage on Wednesday.

Temperatures improved Thursday for the final session of the week. Hamilton posted a lap of one minute, 19.333 seconds, the best of the week.

The British driver was a halfsecond faster than Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren, who had his time on the faster hypersoft tires. Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, last year’s runner-up in the drivers’ championship, was third-fastest, nearly a second behind Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly’s Honda-powered Toro Rosso led the lap charts with 147. Vettel was next with 120 laps, followed by Vandoorne’s 110. Hamilton ended the day with 69.

“It was really satisfying to have done so many laps,” Gasly said. “It was really important for the team and also for myself to be able to learn so much.”

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was fifth-fastest after running 51 laps with McLaren.

Kevin Magnussen was fourthfastest with Haas.

The session was stopped briefly in the morning after Marcus Ericsson went off the track in his Sauber. There was another red flag in the afternoon when Max Verstappen went off in a Red Bull.

Drivers still needed wet tires early in the session, but conditions improved significantly in the afternoon and drivers were able to finish on dry tires.

There will be another four-day test session in Barcelona beginning Tuesday.

The season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne is March 25.