Barcelona Testing Day 2: Ricciardo records fastest time

Ricciardo’s time of 1m24.574s before the lunch break was enough for Red Bull to be on top at the end of the second day of Barcelona Formula 1 testing. Teams also began race stimulations on Circuit de Catalunya.

Even though it is just testing, it was quite motivating for Red Bull to be on top of time sheets. They have been trying to get 100 laps a day and were happy  after pitching 143 laps today.

Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari was just shy by one hundredth of a second who also did his best stint in the morning. He got 90 laps today by the chequered flag.

Nico Rosberg needed to rest his back as a precaution following a trapped nerve earlier in the week, therefore World Champion Lewis Hamilton got back in the Mercedes from Nico for the afternoon – having recovered sufficiently from the fever that sidelined him on Thursday. He embarked on race stimulation and got his fastest time on medium compound tyres, fifth overall.

Felipe Massa made progress up the timesheet to put Williams third, vaulting forward with two short runs on soft tyres after a competitive longer run on mediums.

Carlos Sainz Jr interrupted  the session by a red flag after putting his Torro Rosso in the gravel at the fast Turn 9 right-hander at the back of the circuit. At the end of the day he finished at last.

Second red flag of the day was caused by Marcus Ericsson after he stopped on the pits straight in the final half-hour. His best stint was 2.770s off the top spot after his 113 laps.

All is not good for Mclaren as Fernando Alonso was seventh, getting 59 laps despite some concerns over the engine following Thursday’s seal problem.

Sergio Perez got 121 laps by the end of the day in his VJM07 and had the best time of 1m24.702s, fourth overall.

Jolyon Palmer on his debut for Lotus and ended up eighth overall in the Lotus E23 Hybrid ahead of Ericsson and Sainz.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s updates.