Barcelona I, day 2: Ferrari to the fore as Räikkönen tops day two

Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time of day two of the first F1 test of 2017, edging out Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by just two hundredths of a second at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Hamilton led the way until the lunch break, setting a morning best time of 1:29.983 on super soft tyres. The Briton then handed over driving duties of the Mercedes W08 to team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the afternoon. The Finn piled on the laps in the second part of the session, logging 102 tours of the circuit for a best time of 1:22.986 as he focused on race simulation.

Räikkönen’s timesheet topper of 1:20.960 came an hour into the afternoon spell and was set on soft tyres. The 2007 champion also got through 108 laps on a second trouble-free day for the Scuderia after Sebastian Vettel has posted 128 laps on day one.

Following a troubled opening day during which a sensor problem and a battery issue restricted Red Bull Racing to its garages for the bulk of the session, the second day in Barcelona was much more positive. Max Verstappen posted 89 laps on a issue-free day and pushed the RB13 to the day’s third best time, a 1m22.600s, set on soft tyres.

Fourth place went to Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, who ended the day just four thousandths of a second behind Verstappen, though the Dane used the super-soft Pirelli tyre compound to set the time. The new Haas also proved solidly reliable, with Magnussen completing 119 laps.

New Force India recruit Esteban Ocon was fifth on super-softs, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, who set his best time on soft compound tyres. With Bottas seventh, Renault’ Jolyon Palmer took eighth place. The Anglo-French team managed just a single installation lap before the lunch break, but Palmer was able to join the action after lunch, completing 53 laps.

Sauber test driver Antonio Giovinazzi was ninth fastest and despite an engine in the morning the Italian was able to complete 67 laps.

Tenth place on the timesheet went to McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne. On day one McLaren were troubled by an oil leak that kept the car in the garage for much of the day and there were more problems today as the team was forced into a lengthy engine change that severely restricted Vandoorne’s track time.

After Felipe Massa racked up 103 laps in the Williams on day one, day two was a briefer affair for the Grove team as rookie Lance Stroll spun out in the morning. The Canadian damaged the car and with replacement parts not available the team was forced to call an early halt to running.