The Ferrari F1-75 came close to completing its second consecutive morning at the top of the timesheets in the tests of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but the fastest team on the first day prevented it almost at the last minute. the australian Daniel Ricciardoaboard the McLaren MCL36, posted the fastest time of the morning with 10 minutes remaining in the session with a best time of 1:20,355improving the times previously obtained by Carlos Sainz.
The Spanish rider has completed an intense morning of testing, covering a distance greater than that of a Grand Prix with 67 laps. After running several tests in short runs, selectively aborting his attempts in different sectors, Sainz finally set a time of 1:20,546 mid-session with C3 tires with which he held the lead until almost the end. With this, he completed his work for the day, since Leclerc will be the one to finish off the job for the Prancing Horse in the afternoon.
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Also in the last minutes, Pierre Gasly climbed to third place with his AlphaTauri and another time under 1:21, easily beating those recorded by Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll. In the case of Albon, the Thai was slightly restricted in his program for the day due to a problem in the injection pump of his Williams FW44, which did not prevent him from registering a competent time within the relativity of some tests. Far below was Mercedeswho again chose discretion as a great asset, and without shining in mileage either, with “barely” 40 laps for Lewis Hamilton.
After a practically unblemished first day in terms of incidents, the last hour of the morning brought with it the first red flag of these tests, due to a breakdown in Sergio Pérez’s car. The Red Bull driver stopped his car at the exit of turn 13 (the turn before the stadium chicane) with 37 minutes to go before the checkered flag. The session was interrupted for more than 20 minutes to remove the car and clean the remains of undetermined fluids that the car had left on the track when stopping. His best time of the day was no big deal either, sitting in the same average 1:22 as Hamilton indicating clear pace contention.
Haas was back in the news todayin his case due to the uncertain outlook for the financing of the team as a result of the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but on the track he managed to leave behind his multiple mechanical problems to carry out a full morning of work with Mick Schumacher, who had a spin. The red lantern of the filming was obtained again by Alfa Romeo, whose car was only 19 laps on the track in the hands of Valtteri Bottas, several of them at the end of the session. When Guanyu Zhou makes his debut this afternoon as the team’s official driver, he will do so in a car that has only completed 51 laps in a day and a half, fewer than six of his opponents did this morning alone.
In addition to Leclerc and Zhou, there will be driver changes at four other teams, with George Russell getting into the Mercedes, Nicholas Latifi getting on the Williams, Sebastian Vettel on the Aston Martin and Nikita Mazepin on the Haas. After participating in the two sessions yesterday, Fernando Alonso gives his place to Ocon throughout the day, so this afternoon It will be the first session of these tests without Spanish drivers on the track.
RESULTS OF TEST DAY 2 IN BARCELONA (MORNING SESSION)
Due to the restrictions imposed by the FIA for this “private joint shakedown”, the Barcelona tests do not have television production, live times outside the circuit or fans present in the stands. That is why we strongly recommend that you keep an eye on the news of these pre-season training sessions through the direct writing of MOTOR.ES, with the latest news narrated and photographed by Juan Munoz and David Moreno from the Circuit, as well as updates on our Twitter accounts: MOTOR.ES and DIRECT F1 ENGINE
Photos: Motor.es