Norris sets the pace for F1 testing as Mercedes struggles



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Norris ran 38 laps in the morning, but missed the last hour and 40 minutes of the session when he stopped with a reported hydraulic pressure loss.

He drove a good mileage when the race resumed after the lunch break, but did not improve with the time of 1m22.306 that he established shortly after 10am local time until 5:15 pm which he recorded a 1m19.264 tire on the Pirelli C5 tire.

It was the first of three short tests completed by the McLaren driver. The second climbed to fourth place before climbing to the top of the qualifying lap with a lap of 1m17.709s on the C4 compound.

But Norris again stopped leaving Turn 2 with just over 20 minutes remaining, bringing out a third red flag of the day leaving only 12 minutes of green flag running when the session resumed.

Red Bull's driver, Gasly, had been the fastest of the morning until a late improvement by Antonio Giovinazzi of Alfa Romeo. Norris's last effort cost him first place.

But his 1m17.715s lap on compound C3 was more than a second faster than the best effort a Red Bull-Honda made in the first week of testing, while Gasly also recorded a record of 136 rounds in one session.

Lance Stroll finished the day in third place at Racing Point-Mercedes, just 0.115 from Norris's time with 82 laps to his credit.

Sebastian Vettel spent the afternoon in the Ferrari SF90 and had a brief period of glory before spending the last part of the afternoon focusing on long journeys on C4 compounds and C3.

While Vettel had 81 laps, his teammate Charles Leclerc was limited to 29 after Ferrari spent a good part of the morning checking his cooling system.

He finished the day with the seventh fastest time.

Giovinazzi, the morning defender, finished fifth, failing to outdo in the afternoon. Alexander Albon, of Toro Rosso, took sixth place with a time of 1m18, 649 on the C4 tires and one of four drivers to surpass the 100 lap mark.

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Williams driver George Russell were the two other players besides Gasly, and finished the day on the eighth and ninth fastest times.

Russell spent a bit of time in the morning doing other checks for Williams, who missed the first two days of last week's first test, but was able to attempt performances in the morning before he focus on longer runs in the afternoon.

The top 10 was completed by Daniel Ricciardo of Renault, who set a best time of 1m20.107 and completed 77 laps after replacing the afternoon of his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who maintained the time.

Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a trouble-free morning devoted mainly to long races with the C2 and C3 tires, but the same can not be said of his team-mate Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, who stopped on his lap in the afternoon due to a problem of oil pressure.

Mercedes changed his engine as a precaution, but Bottas managed to get out before the end of the session and complete six more laps to end the day in 11th.

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