Barcelona, Day 2: Bottas quickest as F1 testing comes to a close

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest on the second and final day of Formula 1’s first in-season test, edging Ferrari’s Antonio Giovinazzi by six hundredths of a second.

The Finn set his quickest time of the day shortly before lunchtime, lapping the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in a time of 1:16.904. The lap, delivered on supersoft Pirelli tyres, capped a period in which he had traded fastest laps with Giovinazzi, though the Ferrari driver’s times were set on hypersoft tyres, two steps further along the softness scale of Pirelli’s compounds. The Italian driver, who yesterday drove for Sauber, took away the honour of the most mileage for the day, however, completing 148 laps of the circuit.

Third place on the timesheet went to current F2 championship leader Lando Norris. The Briton had driven a Pirelli test day with McLaren on Tuesday but moved to the team’s own test car and he jumped to third on the timesheet with a time of 1:18.039 set as the chequered flag was shown.

Norris was also one of a pair of drivers to bring out the red flags during the afternoon session when he stopped on track with a problem during an out lap.

Behind him in the order was the other red flagged driver, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. The Dane delivered his best lap of 1:18.274 in the morning on hypersoft tyres. In the afternoon, however, he stopped on track between Turns 2 and 3 after the team noticed an issue and once the car was recovered he remained in the garage for the rest of the session.

Force India’s Nikita Mazepin took fifth spot, while F2 driver Jack Aitken ended his first Formula 1 test for Renault in sixth place ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Robert Kubica. Pierre Gasly finished ninth on a day split with tester Sean Gelael and the top 10 was rounded out by Stoffel Vandoorne who was driving the Pirelli test McLaren.

Another public F1 test debutant was Jake Dennis, who made a first appearance for Red Bull Racing. The GT racer and former F2 driver also acts as Simulator Development Driver for the Milton Keynes team and over 75 laps worked his way down to a best time of 1:20.440 set on medium tyres.