The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was artiܫficially soaked by water tankers during the lunch break to give teams the chance to test out Pirelli’s new 18-inch wet weather compounds for the first time. 

Teams have been given the chance to trial both the intermediate and wet tyres during the afternoon and will be free to choose their runღ plans.

Drivers will be able to switch back to slicks to round out the final day of the first test in S🍬pain once track conditions have dried out. 

George Russell currently sits at the top of the timing sheets, having pro🅘duced the fastest time of testing so far o🍎n Friday morning. 

Running in the morning was truncated by five red flag periods, two of which were triggered by stoppages for Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s▨ Sebastian Vettel. Both cars suffered hydraulic-related problems that caused a small fire. 

Seven-time world ch꧃ampion Lewis Hamilton is back in action for Mercedes on Friday afternoon.

A further three-day test will take place ♎in Bahrain between March 10-12, before the season-opening race at Sakhir on March 20.