BARCELONA, Spain – After a quiet first three days of Formula One testing in Barcelona, Nico Hulkenberg and Renault made a statement during the final session of the opening week.

Hulkenberg topped an interesting order at the top of the time sheets, posting a best lap of 1:17.393 in his R.S.19, leading both Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon and his Renault teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.

However, despite the positive numbers on paper, the day wasn’t all good for Hulkenberg, as he ended his afternoon stuck in the pits after stalling with an undiagnosed issue. Renault’s total of 58 laps turned between the two cars was their fewest of any day during the week.

Behind the top three, the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth, respectively.

It was a flash of pace for the pair, despite some interesting words from Bottas.

“It seems like, balance-wise, (the car) is a little bit on the knife-edge at the moment,” said Bottas. “We’ve been improving massively in the first three days … (and) it’s nothing fundamentally wrong, I feel. I think there is a lot of potential, but it’s not yet quite there.

“I feel a sense in the team of a bit of an excitement to discover more about the car and to improve it, because at this point, it looks like we are not miles ahead of everyone,” he added. “It seems like Ferrari is in a better place. So I think it motivates us, but obviously we would love to be ahead in Melbourne.”

Tuesday practice leader Charles Leclerc was sixth for Ferrari, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the Haas F1 duo of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

Giovinazzi brought out the red flag twice in the final 10 minutes of Thursday’s on-track time, while Williams’ Robert Kubica also struggled with a pair of spins on the day.