Hurrah! A wild Williams FW42 appears on track

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Williams FW42

Williams FW42

Williams  finally arrived at the Barcelona circuit at 4am on Wednesday…and the FW42 came to life shortly after the lunch break.

In sharp contrast Mercedes were raring to go on Wednesday morning with Valtteri Bottas handed the first stint in the W10.

Green light and Nico Hulkenberg left the Renault garage to get his day’s programme underway. He was the first man out on track, a very slippery track at that.

Great news for Renault, he left the pits with his rear wing intact – and returned with it just so too.

It was, however, noted that he kept the DRS closed down the main straight – a sign that not all is well.

Max Verstappen got dressed for work, ready for his second day in the RB15. Hopefully he, unlike Pierre Gasly, avoids the barriers.

Pirelli engaged in a bit of tyre mystery with the teams as they not only tested the five compounds that will be used this season but also tyres for forthcoming campaigns.

An hour into testing and there was sounds, but not signs, of life at Williams.

And more…

After some confusion Williams revealed it is George Russell who will drive the FW42 – when it hits the track.

Up close with Toro Rosso returnee Daniil Kvyat…

McLaren weren’t seen for the first two hours of play as they worked on major set-up changes that they began last night.

Ferrari kept up the pace on Wednesday with Sebastian Vettel taking P1 with 1:18.3.

But it was his former team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who held it at the lunch break much to Alfa Romeo’s joy.

Shortly after the lunch break, the Haas VF19 stopped on track for a second time on day three. Romain Grosjean behind the wheel this time.

But, when the red flags stopped waving, out came the Williams FW42 for its first laps of the new season. Better late than never!

Williams: Dismiss speculation

There was a small round of applause and comforting pats on the back as Williams finally completed the field for Formula 1 testing.

But one certain man in the background was staying very serious…

George Russell was the man to take the FW42 on its first outing…

Williams FW42

And re-emerged with a couple of hours of the afternoon session remaining, purely to get some laps on the board. Aerodynamic tests will begin on Thursday.

Haas, meanwhile, were forced to changed their Day Four driver line-up after an electrical fault continued to eat up precious track time for Grosjean.

The Frenchman would make it out again…only for the car to stop once again just before the checkered flag waved to signal the end of day three.

There was still enough time, however, for one Daniil Kvyat to go on a late glory run and top the Day Three timesheet.

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Sebastian Vettel Testing Williams

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