#F1 2020 Test 2, Day 2: #Vettel puts @ScuderiaFerrari on top of penultimate day.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fastest on the penultimate day of F1’s 2020 pre-season test in-front of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll while trouble hit reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in the afternoon.

 

 

A damp, slippery surface greeted the drivers on the second-to-last day of testing at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, but the unfavourable conditions made way for the Spanish sun as Ferrari’s Vettel topped the time-sheets with a 1:16.841 – the third quickest time in testing so far – in the morning run on the Pirelli C5 red-marked soft tyres, which was a time that remained unbeaten for the whole day as the Scuderia finished P1 for the first time at pre-season testing this year.

 

However, it was not smooth sailing for the German as he suffered a spin into the gravel at turn five, which brought out the red flag for the third time in the session.

 

Vettel completed 145 laps with the four-time World Champion running a full race weekend programme on the C3, C4 and C5 compounds while in the afternoon session, the Ferrari driver alternated between the C2 and C3’s following the procedure on a Sunday of a Grand Prix and completed a full race distance. Before the day ended, The German returned to the track gathering more data relating to the SF1000’s handling.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly put on a set of C5’s to take second place in the classification in his AT01 racer, finishing 0.225 seconds behind Vettel, The Frenchman managed six laps less than the German but tallied more than his own total in the last two days of testing combined.

 

BWT Racing Point’s Lance Stroll took third on the time-sheets with the Canadian running performance runs on the softer tyres in the morning followed by longer runs in the afternoon session. Stroll was 0.277 adrift of Vettel’s benchmark but achieved 130 laps and 605.150 kilometres in mileage.

 

ROKiT Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi occupied fourth place in the Mercedes-powered FW43, setting a 1:17.313 and ran a total of 158 laps while McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the top five.

 

Norris’ testing programme consisted of testing further developments on the MCL35, exploring it’s performance and completing setup work along with longer runs in the afternoon, which saw the Briton finish with 112 laps for the Woking-based outfit and 0.732 of Vettel’s time.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was sixth and only managed 31 laps before team-mate Alexander Albon took over the Honda-powered RB16 in the afternoon session. The Dutchman brought out the red flag in the morning run after beaching it into the turn five gravel.

 

Albon completed the top ten as the Thai-Briton reached 60 laps in total and a best effort of a 1:18.393, which was 1.552 seconds adrift of Vettel’s time.

 

Defending Champions Mercedes endured a difficult day, as Valtteri Bottas who ended the day seventh, went off into the turn five gravel, but the Finn completed 47 laps, while team-mate Hamilton was stuck in the Silver Arrows garage for more than an hour in the afternoon due to an unexplained issue before emerging on track and parking his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer after just 14 laps.

 

Mercedes later reported an oil pressure anomaly caused the engine to shutdown, bringing an early end to it’s testing programme for the day.

 

The Brackley-based squad focused on intermediate tyre running due to the damp conditions earlier on with Bottas, before working on the W11’s setup and longer pace runs with the C3 compound.

 

Hamilton’s limited running saw him finish at the rear of the time-sheets.

 

Most of the red flags on the penultimate day were due to a wet and quick-drying circuit, in the morning that kept the kerbs slippery, which lead most to run the intermediate tyres before putting on the slicks as conditions became comfortable.

 

Renault’s Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo were 8th and 11th on the time-sheets respectively as the former completed 37 laps and the latter 59 laps in the afternoon with the Anglo-French outfit completing a total of 96 laps.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was behind Ocon in ninth place and recorded 111 laps with the Dane running 31 laps in the morning as he used the intermediates at first, before switching to the C3’s, completing 31 laps on a series of shorter stints.

 

In the afternoon session, Magnussen undertook baseline work on the Ferrari-powered VF-20, working on a 60-lap race simulation, which ran until the checkered flag was waved.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi ended 12th overall on the time-sheets with a 92-lap stint with the Italian’s day not getting off to a great start as he crashed at turn four, bringing out the first red flag for the day.

 

In the afternoon after repairs to the C39, they Hinwil-based squad could not complete a lap during it’s qualifying simulation run due to yellow-waved flags, but managed to finish it’s long run programme.

 

Giovinazzi clocked up 428.26 kilometres of mileage and set a 1:19.670, which was 2.829 adrift of Vettel’s time.

 

F1 2020 Pre-Season Test Week 2, Day 2 Classification

 

 

You can watch the highlights of what happened on day five at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1MdTT-b-5M

 

Click here to see who will be running on the final day.

 

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You can catch up on day one of week two at the following link: #F1 2020 Test Week 2, Day 1 Roundup: @R_Kubica finishes top for @alfaromeoracing.