Sebastian Vettel was fastest on the opening day of the second week of testing in Barcelona, ahead of the 2018 Formula 1 season, as McLaren’s testing woes continue.
Vettel set a 1m20.396s in the morning on medium tyres, and that lap would remain at the top of the timesheets until the end of the day.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was second quickest on the soft tyres, also setting his lap in the morning – exactly two tenths slower than Vettel’s benchmark.
After Daniel Ricciardo withdrew from his testing duties today due to illness, Max Verstappen drove the RB14 today, setting the third quickest time, less than a tenth of Bottas’ time, but on the harder medium tyres.
Reigning four-time champion Lewis Hamilton completed the top four, driving in the afternoon session and setting a 1m20.808s on the soft tyres.
Bottas and Hamilton collectively set 177 laps between them, six more than Vettel.
Pierre Gasly set Toro Rosso’s quickest time of the test so far, just over a tenth off Hamilton. However, he had a difficult afternoon, spending the majority of the session in the garage.
Haas’ strong pace continued with Kevin Magnussen sixth quickest ahead of current Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg. His team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr, who ran for Renault in the afternoon, set the eighth quickest time, just two hundreds slower than Hulkenberg.
Rookie Sergey Sirotkin was ninth fastest for Williams, he ran in the morning before handing over to Lance Stroll, who ended up with the slowest time on the hyper-soft tyres.
Force India’s difficult pre-season continued with the 10th fastest time and the second-fewest amount of laps in the morning, before a more productive afternoon. Perez ran off the road in the morning, which brought out a red flag, when he brought gravel onto the road when re-joining.
Marcus Ericsson set Sauber Alfa Romeo’s best lap of the test so far, though was still only 11th ahead of the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne.
McLaren had a miserable day, Vandoorne clocked just 38 laps and spent the majority of the day in the garage. He broke down just minutes after the session went live in the morning.
