F1 2017 Testing – Barcelona Test 2 Day 2



With just under 16 days to go for the Australian Grand Prix, teams and drivers are still in testing period in Barcelona, racking up mileage and data. The biggest statement coming out of testing is Ferrari’s 2017 championship prospects after a failed 2016 campaign. Lewis Hamilton hailed the Italian outfit as favourites going into the season. It must have been the best news for the Tifosi, but Ferrari were unfazed by the praise – continuing to stick firm to their media blackout and unaltered programme.

 Here is the summary of Day 02 in Barcelona.

1. Valtteri Bottas driving for Mercedes set the fastest time of pre-season tests so far with a blistering laptime of 1.19.3 on a set of super soft tires. The laptime proved to be 4 tenths quicker than the previous best lap time he had set last week.

 2. Williams’ Felipe Massa finished behind the Mercedes, bringing his 2 testing days’ total laps to a mind boggling 231 laps. Although he was swapped in for his younger teammate Lance Stroll, the Brazilian managed to stay in the top 2 with only 0.1s adrift of Bottas.

 3. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who took over from Vettel for Day 2, showed off the plethora of sensors attached to his SF70-H in the morning. However, the Finn spun out of turn 3 in the afternoon, ending his day early in the afternoon with just 53 laps on board.

 4. Max Verstappen in the Red Bull was one of the two drivers of the day to complete a ton of laps. Despite an engine change in the morning of Day 03, Verstappen and Red bull managed to snatch 4th on the time sheets albeit being 1.1s off the pace-setter. Towards the end of the day, Verstappen stopped on track, blaming it on simulations.

 5. Renault and Force India showed strong pace and consistency behind the front runners as Perez completed a 100 laps and Hulkenberg completed 61.

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