Mexican rookie Sergio Perez has topped today’s third day of testing in Barcelona, and whilst the youngster was undeniably running low fuel at the time it still speaks well to the pace of his Sauber. The Swiss team have been strong throighout testing and though we don’t expect them to trouble the Red Bulls or Ferraris come Melbourne the privateer outfit come be set to pounce on the likes of McLaren and Mercedes if these big guns continue to struggle with their 2011 machines.
Behind Perez was Felipe Massa, second in his Ferrari, and Mark Webber third for Red Bull, with veterans Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher rounding out the top five for Williams and Mercedes respectively.
Elsewhere Lotus were hit by gearbox problems in the morning, prompting Jarno Trulli to admit that their car may have reliability issues heading in to the new season. Meanwhile Toro Rosso – tipped by many to be the surprise package of 2011 – focussed on long-run pace, leaving Jaime Alguersuari down in tenth.
And, as ever, we’ve got a selection of photos from today’s running courtesy of Octane Photos. Watch out for some extra special content from them as we build up to the new season in Australia – practice gets underway in just two weeks time.
