Barcelona Test, Day 2: Verstappen keeps Red Bull on top

While Max Verstappen claimed the fastest time of day two, it was Sebastian Vettel who topped the overall timesheets after F1’s first in-season test of 2016.

The second day of F1 testing at Barcelona saw race winner Max Verstappen claim the fastest time for Red Bull with a 1m23.267s lap in the morning, but Sebastian Vettel’s 1m23.220s effort on the first day remained the fastest time of the test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“It was good to get back in the car today,” Verstappen said. “The car is good to drive, very enjoyable and we achieved very good mileage. We didn’t have any problems and could run the whole day. For me personally it was good to have the opportunity to get even more comfortable with the car. I was able to try some new things and find ways to improve my performance. I learned a lot about the RB12 today, which is very, very positive.”

Wednesday’s fastest times were all set in the morning, with the teams spending the afternoon concentrating on longer runs and race simulations. As a result, the bulk of running took place on the soft and medium compounds, with Esteban Gutierrez the only man to run on the ultrasoft in preparation for Monaco.

Chasing Verstappen on Wednesday was McLaren reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who set a fastest time of 1m24.006s, and Pascal Wehrlein, who replaced scheduled driver Esteban Ocon at Mercedes, and ended the day third on the timesheets with a 1m24.145s lap.

The end of the test did not run without incident - there were two stoppages for red flags courtesy of Daniil Kvyat and Manor development driver Jordan King. The Toro Rosso was stopped on track due to an unspecified car problem, while King came off at Turn 7 resulting in excessive gravel on the track.

Overall it was a solid day’s running for the ten teams present, with all completing a minimum of 90 laps.