Raikkonen fastest for Alfa Romeo - morning testing round up

Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of winter testing so far on the morning of day three with a 1:17.762. Sebastian Vettel ended the morning in second while Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas propped up the order in ninth but ended with the highest lap count.

Valtteri Bottas got the morning started and headed straight out on track to get Mercedes' initial run underway. Other teams held off after initial installation laps due to the cold track temperatures.

A lot of data gathering was the first point of call for much of the running, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull ran a variety of sensors to begin the day gathering aerodynamic data rather than set fast times out of the gate.

Haas fielded Pietro Fittipaldi once more, another change of plan for the team as Romain Grosjean sat the morning session out.

Sebastian Vettel got back on it after the initial runs and put Ferrari top of the timing sheets, a familiar sight as testing goes on. His 1:18.614 on the C2 compound, the hard tyre compound for 2019, on a cold track turning heads up and down the pitlane.

Mercedes and Red Bull did not respond, instead choosing to continue to stick to their run plans despite the Ferrari grabbing the headlines thus far.

Williams did not appear during the morning session but completed several fire-ups of their 2019 car which was flown in overnight to the circuit and confirmed George Russell will be in the car this afternoon.

Haas was the first to bring out the red flags on day three, the VF-19 grinding to a halt on track after the halfway point in the session.

After the session resumed, the track got very busy until the end of the morning running with a mix of long runs and quick times beginning to roll in and multiple drivers improving their times late on.

Raikkonen set the quickest time of testing so far with a 1:17.762s. His time puts last years fastest times in sight but was set on the C4 compound tyre, this season's soft compound.

A late spin for Sainz entering the final chicane almost brought the session to an early end but the Spaniard was able to escape the gravel trap and return to the pits.

LAP TIMES + COUNT:

Kimi Raikkonen - Alfa Romeo - 1:17.762s - 64 laps

Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - 1:18.350s - 80 laps

Nico Hulkenberg - Renault - 1:18.800s - 63 laps

Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - 1:18.897s - 47 laps

Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 1:18.899s - 34 laps

Pietro Fittipaldi - Haas - 1:19.249s - 48 laps

Carlos Sainz - McLaren - 1:19.354s - 28 laps

Sergio Perez - Racing Point - 1:20.102s - 44 laps

Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - 1:20.693s - 88 laps

George Russell - Williams - No time - 0 laps