McLaren testing troubles continue; Raikkonen quickest

While Lewis Hamilton and then Valtteri Bottas pounded round the Circuit de Catalunya as Mercedes continued to show off the astonishing reliability they hope will fire them to yet further glory, McLaren were restricted to 40 laps.

McLaren may have won a combined 20 drivers' and constructors' championships in the sport, but they have fallen dramatically down the grid in recent years and their renewed relationship with Japanese engine supplier Honda has been thoroughly disappointing.

And after Fernando Alonso missed the majority of the opening day in his Spanish homeland with an oil leak, Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian driver who has replaced Jenson Button this year, also fell foul to further woes from the team's unreliable engine.

There were early signs of trouble for the British team when Vandoorne stopped at the entry to the pit lane after completing only a handful of laps. He then had to be pushed back to his garage by the McLaren mechanics.

Shortly before lunch, Vandoorne then lost power from his engine which had to be replaced. He lost more crucial time and while he re-emerged in the latter stages of the day, added just 11 further laps to his morning tally.

Vandoorne finished ahead of only Lance Stroll - the Canadian teenager whose Williams team were forced to abort their schedule on Tuesday following damage he sustained in a spin - in both the time he set and total mileage.

And with a quarter of testing, before the new season gets under way in Melbourne next month, now completed, McLaren have managed only 69 laps, the equivalent of a little more than one race distance of this Barcelona track.

Mercedes, in contrast, have a mammoth 320 laps under their belt.

"Everybody is keeping their heads down," said Vandoorne. "It is not the start we hoped to have but we are a professional team and we are working very hard to solve the issues we have had.

"There are six days of testing left which is not a huge amount. We need to make the most of every lap we get on track and at the moment the team is working hard to solve the issues and make sure we have better days.

"The last two days have been difficult for us but hopefully we can analyse what went wrong overnight and come back stronger tomorrow."

For once, however, it was not Hamilton's name at the top of the order, but that of Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari continued their strong start to winter testing.

The Finnish veteran's best lap of one minute and 20.960 seconds was marginally faster than Hamilton, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen 1.2 seconds off the pace in third.

Jolyon Palmer, the only other Briton on the Formula One grid this season following Button's retirement, missed the entirety of the morning session as Renault fitted new parts to his car which had arrived overnight.

But the 26-year-old took to the track after lunch and ran for 53 laps, finishing 3.1 seconds adrift of Raikkonen.

Hamilton and Bottas will continue to share testing duties for Mercedes on Wednesday with Alonso, the double world champion, scheduled to return for McLaren. 

The test concludes on Thursday.