Daniel Ricciardo sets track record at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya with Lewis Hamilton just behind in testing

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Daniel Ricciardo broke the unofficial track record at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya in Formula One pre-season testing on Wednesday.

The Red Bull driver was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 18.047 seconds on new hypersoft tires, setting the best ever lap in Barcelona since the new track layout was introduced in 2007.

Felipe Massa had the previous record of 1:18.339 in a Ferrari in 2008 testing. Times set in testing are not officially recognised as track records.

Daniel Ricciardo broke the unofficial track record at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya

The Red Bull driver was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 18.047 seconds on new hypersoft tires

Lewis Hamilton was less than a tenth of a second behind Ricciardo with in his Mercedes

Defending champion Lewis Hamilton was less than a tenth of a second behind Ricciardo with the slightly slower ultrasoft tires on his Mercedes, followed by Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel replaced Kimi Raikkonen in the morning session because the Finnish driver was 'unwell,' according to Ferrari. Raikkonen was scheduled to be on the track in the afternoon.

McLaren's reliability issues continued, with Fernando Alonso being stranded on the track because of an oil leak a day after team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne twice had his runs interrupted by car failures.

McLaren opted to change the engine on Alonso's car after the leak, keeping the two-time world champion in the garage for most of the morning. He completed only 47 laps, the fewest among the 10 drivers who made it to the track. His time of 1:19.856 was still good for fourth fastest.

McLaren are using Renault engines this season after three struggling years with Honda.

Hamilton led the lap charts with 90, one more than Ricciardo. 

A dejected Fernando Alonso assesses his McLaren after being forced to stop in the morning 

Alonso, pictured on the gravel on Wednesday, suffered more misery with struggling team 

The Spaniard completed only 47 laps, the fewest among the 10 drivers who made it to the track