Valtteri Bottas ended the second day of the final pre-season test quickest for Williams, using the Super-Soft tyre to post a 1m23.261s. He narrowly outpaced Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by just over three-tenths, although the Briton was on the Soft tyre.
Hamilton posted his lap during the morning session – which he ended quickest – before team-mate Nico Rosberg took over in the afternoon. The German was only ninth fastest when the checkered flag finally fell.
Kevin Magnussen also set his quickest lap before lunch, which was good enough for third, as teams switched their focus to long-run pace and race simulations in the afternoon.
There was just one red flag, caused by Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson following the loss of a right-rear tyre which pitched him into the gravel trap. It didn’t cause the Swede much of a delay as he was soon back on-track to improve his time on his final lap just as the checkered flag fell.
Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a better day for Ferrari, completing 151 laps and finishing fourth fastest with a best time of 1m24.611s on the Medium compound Pirelli tyre.
Haas however didn’t enjoy a successful day, with Esteban Gutierrez completing just one lap before he was garage-bound with a turbo problem. A fuel issue ended their running early on Tuesday and with just 24 laps on the board across two days, the team will be eager to get some laps under its belt on the final two days.
Carlos Sainz completed the most mileage with 166 laps, although Mercedes’ combined efforts between Hamilton and Rosberg saw them complete just two less than Sainz.
Pre-season testing – Test 2 – Day 2 Final Times:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Tyre | Laps |
1 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:23.261 | 108 | ||
2 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:23.622 | 0.361 | 73 | |
3 | K. Magnussen | Renault | 1:23.933 | 0.672 | 126 | |
4 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:24.611 | 1.350 | 151 | |
5 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:25.183 | 1.922 | 121 | |
6 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:25.235 | 1.974 | 135 | |
7 | C. Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:25.300 | 2.039 | 166 | |
8 | S. Perez | Force India | 1:25.593 | 2.332 | 128 | |
9 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.298 | 3.037 | 91 | |
10 | P. Wehrlein | Manor | 1:27.064 | 3.803 | 79 | |
11 | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:27.482 | 4.221 | 55 | |
12 | E. Gutierrez | Haas | 1 |