Yesterday Lando Norris had closed his head on the first day of pre-season 2022 Formula 1 tests by signing the best time at the wheel of his McLaren MCL36 on the Barcelona track and today the same scene was repeated in the morning of the second day of testing.
Daniel Ricciardo, who took over from Norris today at the wheel of the Woking car, set the fastest time in the last 15 minutes of the session, stopping the clock in 1’20 “355. The time was caught with C3 compound tires.
The McLaren Australian was very active on the track, having signed 65 laps. Better than him, however, did the first of the pursuers: Carlos Sainz. The Madrilenian led the Ferrari F1-75 to lead the standings for most of the day, but the most important thing is certainly not the lap time, but the 71 passes ringed without apparent problems.
The Red continues to prove solid on a day in which the team worked to make a lot of comparisons, but also to collect aerodynamic data in the early part of the morning while still mounting the rakes full of sensors just behind the front wheels.
Third time for Pierre Gasly with the AlphaTauri AT03. He too, like Sainz and Ricciardo, achieved his best time (1’20 “764) with C3 compounds, distinguishable from the yellow band on the shoulder. With this time the Frenchman is 4 tenths from Ricciardo and 2 from Sainz.
The top three were the only ones to break the 1’21 “wall. Alexander Albon took Williams to fourth place, 4 tenths faster than Lance Stroll with Aston Martin. Grove did a lot of aerodynamic tests, this time on the rear of the FW44.
Having overcome yesterday’s difficulties, Mick Schumacher led the Haas to do 66 laps, making him the second most active on the track, like Esteban Ocon with the Alpine A522 (last in the morning’s standings). Alfa Romeo still in difficulty: today Valtteri Bottas did not go beyond 21 laps on the track, remaining in the pits for a long time. Alfa Romeo was the least active team on the track this morning.
After yesterday’s 147 passes, today Red Bull caused the first red flag arrived 30 minutes from the end of the morning session. Perez was stopped in the third sector due to a gearbox failure. The team, after recovering the car, immediately worked to fix the problem and, according to what a team spokesperson said, the failure should already have been fixed. The Mexican did only 38 laps.
Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes W13 did just 2 more, so 40. The 7-time world champion concentrated on 3 10-lap stints with C2 compounds, never looking for time. A lot of aerodynamic evaluations also by Mercedes, with the pitot tubes appearing once again on the main plane of the rear wing.
Pos | Pilot | Team | Time | Gap | Laps / tires |
1 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1: 20.355 | 64 / C3 | |
2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1: 20.546 | + 0.191s | 71 / C3 |
3 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1: 20.764 | + 0.409s | 60 / C3 |
4 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1: 21.531 | + 1.176s | 47 / C3 |
5 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1: 21.920 | + 1.565s | 55 / C2 |
6 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1: 21.949 | + 1.594s | 65 / C3 |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1: 22.288 | + 1.933s | 21 / C3 |
8 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1: 22.412 | + 2.057s | 38 / C2 |
9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1: 22.562 | + 2.207s | 40 / C2 |
10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1: 23.280 | + 2.925s | 66 / C2 |
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