Grosjean fastest of the week in Barcelona

Romain Grosjean went fastest for Lotus as Fernando Alonso crashed and was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure on the final day of the second pre-season test at Barcelona.

Grosjean leapt to the top of the timesheets in the afternoon when he bolted on Pirelli’s supersoft compound and dropped down to a 1m 24.067s – the fastest time any driver managed over the four-day test in Spain.

But even before Grosjean hit the front, McLaren had called an early end to their own testing programme following Alonso’s crash.

The Spaniard hit the wall on the inside of the track between Turns 3 and 4 shortly before midday. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene, and Alonso was taken to the circuit’s medical centre before being airlifted to hospital for further checks.

McLaren subsequently confirmed that Alonso was “conscious and spoke with the doctors”.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat had occupied second spot heading into the final hour, but was demoted following a blistering late run from Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.

Despite using Pirelli’s medium tyre, Rosberg was able to work down to a 1m 24.321s – putting him within three tenths of a second of Grosjean’s benchmark.

Kvyat therefore finished third fastest ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, who like Rosberg improved late on.

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Junior was sixth quickest, although his day ended prematurely when he also crashed exiting Turn 3.

“It was a really good day until I crashed,” the Spaniard reflected. “Unfortunately I made a mistake at Turn 3, which is not the best place to do that, because the barriers are close at that point. I’d rather crash in the test than in Race 1, so I have learned something from it and now we turn the page, move on and think about next week’s test here.

“There are many positives to take from this test. I was a different driver in the car and I felt much more confident here in Barcelona. Everything went really smoothly and I felt we had made a big step forward with the car from Day 2 to Day 4.”

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was seventh fastest ahead of Nico Hulkenberg – driving the 2014 Force India VJM07 – and Alonso.

The latter managed just 20 laps in total, the fewest of any driver. Rosberg led the way, clocking up 131 for Mercedes.

The teams have just three days before the final pre-season test commences at Barcelona on February 26-March 1.

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