MONTMELÓ, Spain (AP) — Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap time on the final day of Formula One testing on Friday, as Mercedes maintained its status of title favorite heading toward the new season. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo were right behind the Finnish driver within one tenth of a second on the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. Last week, Bottas recorded the fastest time of any driver in the six-day preseason. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and defending champion Lewis Hamilton put in the fourth and fifth best times, respectively, on Friday. Leclerc was the busiest driver with 177 laps completed while teammate Sebastian Vettel rested. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto had to acknowledge that Mercedes looked to be way ahead. “I said I was not optimistic as I was last year, and I think I can confirm it,” Binotto said. “We are certainly not the fastest car in testing.” Last year at this time, Ferrari had high hopes after setting faster lap times than Mercedes in testing, only for the pair of Hamilton and Bottas to blow them away once the racing began. The final day of the tests went smoothly for most drivers with no major incidents or… Read full this story
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