Sergio Perez remained on top of the timesheets for Sauber on day three of the final pre-season Formula 1 test at Barcelona on Saturday, despite not improving on his morning mark.

The Mexican, who had reached the lunchbreak on top thanks to his 1m22.094s lap on soft Pirelli rubber, joined most of the rest of the field in concentrating on race simulations with heavy fuel loads during the afternoon.

Jenson Button was one of the few drivers not to undertake a long run in the afternoon. The McLaren driver made the most of medium compound tyres and a lower fuel load to climb to second place, only 0.009 seconds adrift of Perez.

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) completed the most laps of anybody - 130 - and this included an impressive 35-lap stint on a succession of sets of soft tyres. A further run of a similar distance was shortened by the onset of mid-afternoon rain. The track did not dry enough to enable anybody to switch back to slicks before the end of the day.

Felipe Massa was fourth fastest in the Ferrari and was, like Ricciardo, one of the few to take to the track on intermediate rubber during the height of the rain. Paul di Resta was next up for Force India, the British driver just managing to finish his 52-lap race simulation as the rain began to fall.

There was only one flag during the afternoon, caused when Bruno Senna stopped on the approach to the La Caixa hairpin. The Williams driver was sixth fastest.

Behind him were Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham and the Red Bull of Mark Webber - which completed just a single run of more than five laps during the entire day.

Propping up the timesheets were Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Lotus man Kimi Raikkonen. The 2007 world champion lost over an hour during the morning while an issue with his steering was rectified and only completed 43 laps during the day.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Perez Sauber 1m22.094s 114
2. Button McLaren 1m22.103s +0.009 44
3. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m22.155s +0.061 131
4. Massa Ferrari 1m22.413s +0.319 122
5. Di Resta Force India 1m22.446s +0.352 108
6. Senna Williams 1m22.480s +0.386 111
7. Kovalainen Caterham 1m22.630s +0.536 64
8. Webber Red Bull 1m22.662s +0.568 70
9. Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.932s +0.838 129
10. Raikkonen Lotus 1m25.379s +3.285 43

It's a shame. I thought they made a reasonably good effort of last season, beating Virgin and having some flashes of matching Team Lotus pace.

But once again they've ballsed up the off-season and will be starting from scratch in Melbourne. Hopeless.

Ta, just wanted to see what was meant when people talked about vertical sections under the nose today instead of the horizontal ones they had before.

Kimi Raikkonen put Lotus at the head of the order on the final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona on Sunday.

The Finn, who had worked through a programme of five-lap simulations on soft and medium rubber during the early hours, completed a number of single-lap runs in the final hour and set the pace in 1m22.030s - the best time achieved at Barcelona during pre-season running.

Raikkonen, who finished the morning with 41 laps to his name, as 0.220s faster than home hero Fernando Alonso, who completed 63.

Alonso's best time also came on soft tyres, backing up claims that while the Ferrari F2012 may not have great long-run pace, its single-lap speed is not in question. He focused on short runs; his longest being a pair of four-lap stints.

Bruno Senna was third fastest for Williams, the Brazilian having his final run in the car before handing over to Pastor Maldonado for the afternoon. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi were next up.

Sixth was Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver making up for the time lost to a wet circuit and Jenson Button's hydraulics problems on Saturday by completing 60 laps – more than anyone other than Alonso.

Seventh, after a late run on supersofts, was Vitaly Petrov's Caterham, while Michael Schumacher was one spot further back in his Mercedes, having run extensively on softs.

Daniel Ricciardo was ninth quickest, but was only 1.1s off the pace. Significantly, however, he completed the longest run of the morning – 11 laps – on mediums and suffered only a 1s drop-off in performance during it.

By contrast, Senna's Williams – completing a 10-lap run on the same tyres at the same time – lost 2.5s of pace during the stint.

Sebastian Vettel, trying the upgraded Red Bull RB8 for the first time, spent most of the morning in the pits and completed only five flying laps. Vettel's morning was hampered by a damaged front wing.

Morning times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.030s 41
2. Alonso Ferrari 1m22.250s +0.220 63
3. Senna Williams 1m22.296s +0.266 53
4. Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.312s +0.282 45
5. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.386s +0.356 56
6. Hamilton McLaren 1m22.430s +0.400 60
7. Petrov Caterham 1m22.795s +0.765 43
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.939s +0.909 57
9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.393s +1.363 53
10. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.608s +1.578 15

Kimi Raikkonen ensured that Lotus finished pre-season Formula 1 testing on top as nobody was able to beat his morning time on the final afternoon at Barcelona.

Most of the field spent the afternoon focusing on race simulations, meaning that Raikkonen's 1m22.030s lap, set inside the final 20 minutes of the morning, was unlikely to come under fire.

The Lotus driver's race simulation was among the most impressive of the day as he completed a 65-lap run on four sets of Pirelli tyres; three soft, one hard. During these stints he suffered performance drop-off of no more than 1.8s on any given set of tyres.

While his drop-off figures were the best of the race simulations, his overall pace was still shy of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, which seemed to have a 0.2s advantage on any given lap of a stint.

With nobody improving, Fernando Alonso retained second spot in the times - 0.220s down on Raikkonen.

The Ferrari driver's race run was affected by a couple of red flags caused by Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber - which suffered an engine problem and stopped between Turns 4 and 5 – and Vitaly Petrov's Caterham, which took a trip through the gravel at Turn 4 with half an hour to go.

Bruno Senna remained third overall, despite the Brazilian being replaced by his team-mate Pastor Maldonado for the afternoon. Maldonado completed 48 laps – which included two stints on supersofts – putting him ninth.

Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and Kobayashi were next up, ahead of Hamilton, Petrov and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes, which focused on a succession of 10-lap runs on soft tyres.

Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso and the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel brought up the tail of the field. Vettel completed just six laps right at the end of the day; his RB8 having to be cured of gearbox problems that had also restricted his morning running.


Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.030s 121
2. Alonso Ferrari 1m22.250s +0.220 115
3. Senna Williams 1m22.296s +0.266 53
4. Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.312s +0.282 101
5. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.386s +0.356 72
6. Hamilton McLaren 1m22.430s +0.400 115
7. Petrov Caterham 1m22.795s +0.765 101
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.939s +0.909 100
9. Maldonado Williams 1m23.347s +1.317 48
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.393s +1.363 100
11. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.608s +1.578 23

Gosh, I'm really surprised to see that remark from an old sweat such as yourself.

Has pre-season testing ever given an indication of the forth-coming season before? Will Kimi qualify in the top fifteen come Melbourne?