Rosberg fastest as final F1 test ends

Mercedes ended the final day of 2013 pre-season Formula 1 testing on top thanks to Nico Rosberg.

The German recorded a 1m20.130s at Barcelona on soft tyres after trading fastest laps with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for much of the morning session.

Most teams concentrated on higher fuel runs or the harder tyres in the afternoon, so there were few improvements after the break.

That meant the top duo's advantage remained at around one second, with Jenson Button's McLaren third from the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg.

Force India's Paul di Resta finished the morning in fifth, but was knocked down a place by one of the few improvers of the afternoon.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus spent most of the morning in the pits thanks to a gearbox problem. A couple of soft-tyre runs towards the end of the afternoon nevertheless lifted him to fifth.

The only other changes to the timesheets in the afternoon came from drivers who had not been part of the morning session.

Valtteri Bottas took over from Pastor Maldonado at Williams and was just over 0.1s slower than the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix winner as the FW35 took seventh and ninth.

At Marussia, Max Chilton took over from Jules Bianchi. A late improvement meant he recorded 1m24.103s, but that was almost a second slower than his new team-mate's best from the morning.

Red Bull again proved difficult to read. A mix of unmarked tyres and harder rubber meant Sebastian Vettel never went for a headline time and thus ended up eighth.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver            Team         Time       Gap       Laps  Tyres
 1.  Nico Rosberg      Mercedes     1m20.130s            131   Soft
 2.  Fernando Alonso   Ferrari      1m20.494s  + 0.364s  120   Soft
 3.  Jenson Button     McLaren      1m21.444s  + 1.314s  122   Soft
 4.  Nico Hulkenberg   Sauber       1m21.541s  + 1.411s  118   Soft
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen    Lotus        1m21.658s  + 1.528s  50    Soft
 6.  Paul di Resta     Force India  1m21.664s  + 1.534s  112   Soft
 7.  Pastor Maldonado  Williams     1m22.415s  + 2.285s  42    Soft
 8.  Sebastian Vettel  Red Bull     1m22.514s  + 2.384s  100   Soft
 9.  Valtteri Bottas   Williams     1m22.524s  + 2.394s  31    Soft
10.  Charles Pic       Caterham     1m23.115s  + 2.985s  116   Soft
11.  Jules Bianchi     Marussia     1m23.167s  + 3.037s  62    Soft
12.  Daniel Ricciardo  Toro Rosso   1m23.628s  + 3.498s  91    Soft
13.  Max Chilton       Marussia     1m24.103s  + 3.973s  49    Soft