Sebastian Vettel stays quickest at the end of day 5 at Barcelona winter testing, as Mercedes suffers a reliability issue in the afternoon.

The four-time champion clocked the fastest laptime in the morning, setting a 1.16.841 on the C5 compound, while Frenchman Pierre Gasly polished his best lap up to P2 (1.17.066) in the closing stages of the day, paying a gap of 0.225s. Racing Point keeps showing promise, having Lance Stroll set the third best time of the day on C3. Fellow Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi stands fourth, nearly half a second off the pace, as McLaren driver Lando Norris rounds up the top 5. Max Verstappen (P6) and Alex Albon (P10) shared a trouble-free testing day, collectively completing 92 laps.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon was on duty in the morning, setting a personal best lap of 1.18.013s valid for P8, whereas Daniel Ricciardo did not manage to go beyond 1.18.395s on the C3.

Mercedes hit trouble in the afternoon, when Lewis Hamilton took over from Valtteri Bottas (7th, 47 laps) in the morning. Twelve laps into his long-run, an engine problem occurred at the exit of Turn-5, bringing the session to a halt.

The Briton did not manage to rejoin the track later in the afternoon, and the team later revealed that the issue was rooted in an oil pressure anomaly.

Ferrari wrapped up a rather positive day, racking up 145 laps, but the recordman of the day was Nicholas Latifi, who managed to complete a striking total of 160.  

Seb finishes on 🔝#F1Testing 🏁 Day 5 🏁 pic.twitter.com/6eylbC4SSA

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 27, 2020

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