Daniel Ricciardo put Red Bull on top by going fastest during day 2 of F1 testing in Barcelona, edging out both Raikkonen as well as Williams driver Felipe Massa.
Today was a much tighter battle for the fastest time, as the quickest drivers 1 through 5 were separated by less than half a second, with less than a tenth of a second separating drivers 1 through 3.
Ricciardo flexed his Renault engine’s muscle, completing no fewer than 143 laps and setting the fastest time at 1:24.574s – 0.01s quicker than Raikkonen. Force India’s Sergio Perez managed the 4th fastest time, fractionally ahead of Mercedes‘ Lewis Hamilton who took over for Nico Rosberg as the German didn’t want to aggravate a trapped nerve in his neck.
Another bright spot was 2014 GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer who took the reigns of his Lotus for the first time and finished 8th fastest ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Junior.
As for McLaren, they showed a bit more promise after Fernando Alonso managed to pull off 59 total laps. However, their pace was still lacking as the Honda powered car was consistently a few km/h slower in the speed traps than the Mercedes-powered Force India of Sergio Perez. Which means they have to figure out where they can find some extra speed in a straight line.
Testing will resume on Saturday.
Unofficial Day 2 times from Barcelona
1. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:24.574s, 143 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:24.584s, 90 laps
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:24.672s, 88 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:24.702s, 121 laps
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:24.923s, 89 laps
6. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:25.556s, 66 laps
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:25.961s, 59 laps
8. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus, 1:26.280s, 77 laps
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:27.334s, 113 laps
10. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1:28.945s, 100 laps