---
title: "Vettel continues to lead in second day of testing"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/02/23/vettel-continues-lead-second-day-testing/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Cameron Paterson"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2016-02-23T18:03:39Z"
modified: "2016-02-23T18:03:39Z"
---

# Vettel continues to lead in second day of testing

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap of testing for the second day in a row in the first test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Vettel and his old Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo quickly traded times on the supersoft tyres, before using Pirelli’s new purple-walled ultrasoft tyres, after which the Ferrari came out on top.

The German set a lap time of 1:22.810 to finish over seven tenths ahead of Ricciardo. For a benchmark of this performance, this is over 1.8 seconds faster than the lap time set by Nico Rosberg (1:24.681) to claim pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix last May.

The only slight problem in his day was causing the third red flag of the session by stopping on his 126th lap with minutes to go. This was his last lap of this week, with Kimi Raikkonen taking over the Ferrari for the final two days of the first test.

Force India’s Sergio Perez marked his first 101 laps in the VJM09 by finishing third fastest, 0.125 seconds behind Ricciardo on the supersoft tyres.

![Mark Thompson/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/02/511835080.jpg)

Mercedes continued to show an amazing display of reliability by completing 172 laps with Nico Rosberg to add to the 156 completed by Lewis Hamilton on Monday. The German finished fourth on the medium tyres, two seconds behind Vettel.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson finished fifth in his final drive with the 2015 C34 car before Felipe Nasr gives it its final send-off in the next two days.

Esteban Gutierrez made his Haas debut in place of Romain Grosjean in sixth position, with the new team having a much smoother second day of testing, completing 77 laps.

Valtteri Bottas finished in seventh for Williams, ahead of Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, who finished just over three seconds behind Vettel. Felipe Massa and Rio Haryanto will come in to replace both drivers for the final two days of this test.

Fernando Alonso drove the McLaren MP4-31 in place of Jenson Button and displayed an optimistic sign of reliability completing 119 laps in the car, and finishing the session in ninth place.

However, Jolyon Palmer and Renault had another frustrating day, managing 42 laps, before ending their running early in the afternoon after their engine fancied a smoke with a turbo-related problem, causing the second red flag of the day. The Englishman hands over the RS16 to Kevin Magnussen for the final two days.

Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen caused the first red flag of the day earlier in the session. However, he did go on to complete 120 laps, finishing in 11th place.