Barcelona Winter Testing – Day 2: Vettel the fastest, Verstappen and Vandoorne lost half a day

For this second day, the drivers on duty were Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Esteban Ocon (Force India), Sergey Sirotkin (Williams), Carlos Sainz (Renault), Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), and Charles Leclerc (Sauber), while Robert Kubica (Williams) took over for the afternoon session.

Regarding the weather conditions, at nine in the morning for the start of testing, the air temperature was only -1 degree, and the track temperature was only 1 degree. These low temperatures seriously complicated the task for the drivers since the Pirelli tires are not designed to operate at these temperatures.

The first driver to take to the track is Kevin Magnussen in his Haas, closely followed by Sergey Sirotkin in the Williams, Pierre Gasly for Toro Rosso, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari, and finally Charles Leclerc in the Sauber. All these drivers are content with an installation lap.

One hour after the track opened, as the drivers still hadn’t set significant times, the track began to warm up, reaching 7°C, which would finally allow the cars to perform better. It was Carlos Sainz who recorded the first time of the day with a lap of 1:34.177 on intermediate tires.

At long last, we have a time on the board!

Carlos Sainz is the man responsible, clocking a 1:34.177 on Intermediates 🙌#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/lVzZcjezeK

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 février 2018

Later, it was announced that this test day would not include a lunch break, allowing teams to drive as much as possible in improving conditions. The session continued at a fairly slow pace, mainly with low-speed aerodynamic tests for the drivers. Around 11 o’clock, Sainz improved his time in his Renault to 1:26.050 but this time on soft tires. Unfortunately for spectators, few cars stayed on track for an extended period.

Around noon, Valtteri Bottas finally sets an interesting time, improving over several laps before crossing the line in 1:20.806 on softs. Meanwhile, Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren did even better with a 1:20.325 on the new hypersoft tires.

Subsequently, Kevin Magnussen takes a little trip into the gravel without any consequence while Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly completed their first timed laps quite far from Vandoorne’s best time. Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas are then the fastest on track with laps around the 1 minute 23 mark. At this moment, all the cars are on track.

This allows Esteban Ocon to set the third-fastest time at 1:22.844 on soft tires, close to the times of Gasly and Sirotkin. A complicated morning for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, who are stuck in the pits due to a fuel system leak. Vettel’s Ferrari continues to improve on mediums, six seconds off the best time, before significantly improving with a 1:21.010 on a set of mediums. A few minutes later, the Red Bull makes its first appearance on track with the medium compound, stringing together laps to reach 1:26.034. The otherwise calm session then sees the first red flag of the day, caused by Charles Leclerc’s Alfa-Romeo Sauber stuck in the gravel at turn four.

52 laps for @Charles_Leclerc before he took a tiny detour at turn 4, but that’s what testing is all about. The car is being cleaned as we speak, and we’ll be back on track soon! #AlfaRomeoSauberF1Team #F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/JXxHNDymCN

— Sauber F1 Team (@SauberF1Team) 27 février 2018

Vandoorne takes the opportunity to make a small break, unlike Vettel, Gasly, and Verstappen, who take advantage to improve their best lap. The other unfortunate driver of the day, Kevin Magnussen, finally comes out after completing only 6 laps and sets a 1:23.665 on softs. The improvements continue for Ferrari and Red Bull until Sebastian Vettel clocks the best time with a lap of 1:20.168. The German performs a harmless spin a few moments later.

Around 2:30 pm, the afternoon session begins with Pierre Gasly having completed 59 laps. It is worth noting that Mercedes decided to have Valtteri Bottas run all day to make up for lost time. The Mercedes stints are enough to worry the competition with lap times in the one minute twenty range, with a total of 64 laps completed.

On the mercury side, we finally reach a temperature close to 18°C on the track with only 5°C in the air.

Sergey has set the second highest number of laps today with 22. Temperatures are still ❄️ Robert will be in the car later this afternoon! #F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/DMpMgDoRaE

— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) 27 février 2018

At Williams, Sergey Sirotkin hands over to Robert Kubica for the rest of the day. It’s then that Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest time of the day with a soft tire lap of 1:20.115, while the Polish Williams driver completes his first laps. He strings together several circuit laps to establish a better time than Sirotkin with a 1:22.142, while Charles Leclerc makes timing progress but remains last. Another significant improvement for the Ferrari driver, still on soft tires, with a lap finished in 1:19.673. At Sauber, Leclerc moves up from the last place at the expense of Kevin Magnussen.

Here comes Bottas again, who is three-tenths behind Vettel, while Robert Kubica improves Sirotkin’s best time by four-tenths and Max Verstappen does the same. Around 4:40 p.m., the first snowflakes begin to fall, discouraging the drivers from going out on the track. But fortunately, the snow stops quite quickly. At 5 p.m., only Gasly and Ocon dare to venture onto the track, with a surprising feature for the Force India driver—chains on his tires. But not for long.

There, you’re all sorted @OconEsteban!

A few snowflakes won’t stop us… #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/ZUVvyu0gsY

— Sahara Force India (@ForceIndiaF1) 27 février 2018

Surprisingly, the McLaren has still not reappeared on track since 2:30 PM, and Carlos Sainz has yet to be replaced by Nico Hülkenberg in the Renault. Bottas and Kubica take to the track in turn, on intermediate and wet tires respectively, for a few laps. Several drivers take turns on the track without staying for long until the end of the session.

It is under these conditions of not putting single-seaters outside that this second day of winter testing comes to an end. Things are not expected to be any simpler tomorrow with the announcement of snowfall but an air temperature of 8°C.

🏁 DAY TWO = DONE 🏁

Vettel tops both laps and times 💪

VET 1:19.637 (98)
BOT 1:19.976 (94)
VAN 1:20.325 (37)
VER 1:20.326 (67)
SAI 1:21.212 (65)
GAS 1:21.318 (82)
KUB 1:21.495 (48)
SIR 1:21.822 (52)
OCO 1:21.841 (79)
LEC 1:22.721 (81)
MAG 1:22.727 (36)#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/88tqXgAG1h

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 février 2018