Felipe Massa took top spot on day one of the second test in Barcelona with a 1m19.762s on the super-soft tyres.
After spending only one day in the car in the first test due to team-mate Lance Stroll damaging the FW40 on several occasions, the veteran Brazilian made up for lost ground and completed a whopping 168 laps. He fell short of Valtteri Bottas’ benchmark recorded last Wednesday by just 0.021s.
Daniel Ricciardo was next up on the timesheets, 0.174s shy of Massa’s benchmark. The Australian completed 89 laps in the RB13 and set his best time on the ultra-soft tyres.
Like Massa, Sebastian Vettel completed 168 laps. Ferrari continued its strong winter testing form and was only two-tenths off the fastest time on the day on the soft tyres.
Once again, Mercedes split its running between the two drivers with Lewis Hamilton driving the W08 in the morning. The three-time Formula 1 champion circulated 49 times on his way to fourth fastest while team-mate Bottas enjoyed a productive afternoon on his way to fifth place.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon was the only other driver aside from Massa and Vettel to complete over 100 laps. He ended the day 1.621s off Massa’s best time. The middle of the timesheets appeared to be very tight with just four-tenths separating Ocon in sixth and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat in ninth.
McLaren-Honda’s issues intensified as they suffered another engine issue in the morning. Stoffel Vandoorne did manage to complete some meaningful running before and after the engine change but it was another difficult day for the Woking squad.
Pascal Wehrlein got his first taste of the C36 after returning from an injury which was sustained at the Race of Champions in January. The German got 47 laps under his belt before handing over to team-mate Marcus Ericsson in the afternoon session.
Jolyon Palmer could only complete 15 laps in the R.S.17 after a sensor issue forced him back into the garage. Nico Hulkenberg was back in the Renault in the afternoon and caused a red flag just as the session was coming to an end.
