Barcelona Day 2 – Michael Schumacher and Ferrari Leaders

Michael Schumacher was once again the fastest on track today for the second day of private testing in Barcelona.

The weather was nice today in the northeast of the country, which allowed the drivers as well as the 11 teams present today, as evidenced by the number of laps completed.

With 90 laps covered, it was Schumacher, in the Ferrari F2007, who topped the timesheets, and this already in the morning.

Despite a harmless off-track excursion after a few laps, the German testing the 2008 electronics is ahead of Pedro de la Rosa’s McLaren by four-tenths and Heikki Kovalainen in the sole Renault, who is three hundredths slower.

Felipe Massa, taking over from Luca Badoer, is in 4th position and, like the first Ferrari, ahead of a McLaren, that of Gary Paffett, who rounds out the top 5.

As yesterday, Nakajima, Coulthard, and Heidfeld are in the top 10, but in different positions. Nakajima indeed surpassed his teammate on Williams, unlike the first day, and takes 6th position, while the Japanese driver is in 9th. Coulthard and Heidfeld are between the two men in 7th and 8th positions.

A Toro Rosso completes the top 10 with Vettel, who once again outpaces Bourdais (17th) – a 4-time ChampCar champion – but today by more than 6 tenths! Both men tested the car without traction control and with 2008 electronics, which was only the case for Vettel yesterday.

Karun Chandhock, tested this week by Red Bull, secured a commendable 11th position, but about 7 tenths behind Coulthard. Nevertheless, the results are encouraging for the young Indian.

Filippi, tested by Honda as part of their young talent development program, is 16th. He will be replaced tomorrow by Mike Conway, another GP2 driver.

Toyota and Force India (formerly Spyker) caused the most red flags today. The TF108 that arrived today struggled to get up to temperature, causing off-track excursions for Trulli and Montagny, while Force India once again experienced a lot of reliability issues.

The new team tested three drivers today, occupying the last three positions on the leaderboard. Sutil was the most diligent on the track with 105 laps completed.

Testing Spain – Barcelona – Day 2