Charles Leclerc put Scuderia Ferrari once again on top of the time-sheets in Formula 1’s second day pre-season testing at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya.

 

 

The young Monegasque driver, taking part in his first pre-season test for the Prancing Horse, set the benchmark time of a 1:18.247 in the pre-lunch session, before the main focus in the afternoon was on long runs, which saw him take the SF90 racer clock up 157 laps, the most of any driver.

 

“I am very happy with the way today went,” explained Leclerc who made his official debut at the wheel of the Ferrari. “Despite some red flag interruptions, we were able to get through all our programme and to do 157 laps, which has produced a lot of useful data,”

 

“In terms of feeling, I quickly felt comfortable with the SF90 and I have to say I really enjoyed myself. Emotion? There’s always going to be some when you get into a Ferrari, but today I put that to one side because I had a job to do for the team. Let’s hope we keep going like this over the next few days, because it’s important to make the most of the few on-track testing opportunities we have.” Leclerc concluded.

 

 

In second place was the Renault-powered MCL34 McLaren of Lando Norris, lapping just 0.306 seconds off Leclerc’s time. The young Briton’s programme began with aerodynamic correlation and more data analysis with long pace runs in the afternoon that saw him reach a total of 104 laps.

 

“Being my first time in the car, I’m pretty happy with how today has gone,” said Norris. The team has done an awesome job getting everything together, and over the last two days we’ve done a lot of mileage, which is the best thing we can hope for,”

 

“The times aren’t important to us, it’s about getting through the plans we have to do, especially in this part of the season when there are a lot of new things on the car to test. I’ve not done much long running in the past or pit-stops, so getting up to speed and talking to my engineers are the most important things for me to get on top of over the next two weeks. Laps, mileage and reliability are the main objectives, as well as getting to know the car,”

 

“There are still a lot of things we need to continue to work on and improve over the next few days. It’s definitely a work in progress.” Norris concluded.

 

 

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen followed team-mate Romain Grosjean’s lead from yesterday by finishing the day third fastest. The Dane clocked up 59 laps in his Ferrari-powered racer and posted a 1:19.206. At the end of the day test driver Pietro Fittipaldi got behind the wheel of the VF-19 with the Kannapolis-Banbury outfit saying there was a seat fit issue for Magnussen.

 

“First impressions of the VF-19 were very good,” explained Magnussen after the day’s running. “The car seems to be handling well, it was showing consistency. I certainly have a good feeling to start off with. Of course, there’s a lot more work to be done when it comes to the details, but there’s no worries at this point.”

 

 

After starting off his first official run for Toro Rosso with a spin, Alexander Albon finished up in fourth place in the Honda-powered STR14 and completing the second most laps in the field with 132.

 

“Today was up there with one of my all-time great experiences! It’s been a really good day,” said Albon on his debut pre-season run with Toro Rosso. “At the start I was thinking to myself ‘don’t spin it this morning’, and that’s exactly what I did! It was really tricky out there because the track was so cold that you couldn’t drive slowly – as soon as you drive too slow your tyres get cold, it becomes unpredictable and it’s like driving on ice,”

 

“Once I got into my rhythm it was a smooth day and we had no issues, apart from a couple of spins later on, but I was just exploring the limits to see what the car was capable of. I did a few laps on Wednesday for our Filming Day, so today wasn’t a totally new experience to drive an F1 car, and I’ve also been in the simulator many times, so I had a general idea of what the car could do,”

 

“However, the high speed of the car is definitely new to me and it was a bit of a positive shock – I’m enjoying it a lot! I’m still smiling from when I got out of the car and I’ll continue smiling throughout tonight until tomorrow! Albon concluded.

 

 

Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the top five in his Alfa Romeo Racing C38 with the Italian clocking up 101 laps and setting a 1:19.312. Giovinazzi carried out aerodynamic and setup work for the Hinwil-based squad. He was satisfied with how the day went.

 

“It was a great experience to drive my own Formula 1 car for the first time,” explained Giovinazzi. “I look forward to developing it together with our team throughout this season,”

 

“We are at the beginning of the testing process, so we tried out some different aerodynamic configurations to learn about the behaviour of the car,”

 

“I felt very comfortable in it, and we put in a good number of laps. Overall, it was a positive day and I look forward to being in the car again on Thursday.” Giovinazzi concluded.

 

 

Valtteri Bottas ended his second day of testing sixth quickest in Mercedes F1 W10 EQ Power+, with the Finn working on long runs and a number of system checks.

 

“We did a lot of laps today and again managed to complete our run plan,” said Bottas at the end of day two. “We’re learning a lot about the W10 with each run and we’re building a better understanding of the set-up,”

 

“The car was better balanced than yesterday, but there’s still a bit of room for improvement. As you can tell from the lap times, we’ve been focusing on long-run work. I’ll be in the car tomorrow morning, so it will be a busy evening for me, taking in all the learnings from today. It’s been a pretty normal test so far; fortunately, the car has been very reliable, so that’s good news.” Bottas concluded.

 

 

Pierre Gasly was seventh fastest in his first day driving the Honda-powered Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15. The Frenchman did a solid 92 laps before ending the day with a spin into the turn 13 barriers.

 

“The day was positive and I was really happy to be back behind the wheel after the winter break” explained Gasly. “The first feeling is good. It was important for me to get comfortable in the car and we managed to do more than 90 laps,”

 

“This afternoon, I was pushing and out of Turn 10 I went on the power, upshifted to fifth and lost the rear of the car. It was quite annoying to lose the last hour of testing. Apart from that, we tested a lot of things and got a lot of good information, there is a good potential. Of course we still have a lot of work to do over the next six days of testing but for me, aside from the last bit, the first day was great.” Gasly concluded.

 

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg ended the day in eighth place on the time-sheets in the second test as the German completed a total of 95 laps. Hulkenberg’s best time was a 1:19.837 with the team’s focus on distance runs and setup changes.

 

“We had a solid afternoon in terms of mileage with 95 laps on the board, which is probably a personal best for me during a testing session.” said Hulkenberg as he reflected on the day. “We completed a lot of laps with various runs and setups.”

 

“We can be pleased with our afternoon’s work as we’ve collected a lot of data in different areas, which means we can push on and identify our points to improve. We’re as happy as we can be at this point.” Hulkenberg concluded.

 

 

Hulkenberg’s Renault team-mate Daniel Ricciardo had a short day in his R.S.19 racer and wound up ninth quickest on day two with just 29 laps on the board. This was because the Aussie’s rear wing top element detached as he flew down the main straight and left Ricciardo to sit the rest of the morning in the garage.

 

“It was a shorter day than I’d hoped for with the DRS failure cutting our running early,” said Ricciardo. “Prior to that I felt encouraged and I was happy with our morning’s work.”

 

“The tyres and the car behaved and the feeling was good and progressing well. I’m still getting familiar with everything; learning what tweaks do what to the balance on this car and going through various setup changes,”

 

“I felt in our early running the feeling was more representative and to my comfort. It’s positive Nico was able to do a couple of longer runs in the afternoon, which means the team have things to look at and assess overnight ahead of tomorrow. Hopefully we will have a bit more time in the seat.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

 

Reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten in the Silver Arrows, with the Briton focusing on aerodynamic work. Both Mercedes achieved a total of 163 laps all up.

 

“It’s been a good day overall,” said Hamilton. “It was quite cold in the morning, so switching the tyres on was a little bit tricky, but it seemed like a few people had similar issues,”

 

“We were focusing on working through our run plan and we got through everything we wanted. It’s good that we’re getting in a lot of mileage and we will try to increase that over the next days as we continue to discover the characteristics of this car,”

 

“That’s the exciting part about it – learning something new and being faced with different challenges. Everyone is working so diligently, I’m really happy to be here with everyone for the seventh year in a row and I’m excited for this journey that we’re embarking on.” Hamilton concluded.

 

 

Lance Stroll’s first day in the RP19 saw the Canadian eleventh on the time-sheets. The Silverstone squad were focused on reliability and getting through the team’s programme.

 

“It was great to be back in the car after a few months and to get down to work,” said Stroll. “It’s a special feeling when you head down the pit lane for the first time in the new car and release the pit limiter,”

 

“The general first impression is positive and we worked through the programme covering lots of laps with good reliability. It’s early days working trackside with the team so I’m still building up my relationship with some of the crew and understanding how the team likes to approach things, but I already feel comfortable. I didn’t really get a good feel for the new aero rules on these cars yet because I didn’t run in traffic very much, but that’s something I will understand better over the next few days.” Stroll concluded.

 

 

The aforementioned Pietro Fittipaldi (Grandson of F1 legend Emerson) finished at the rear completing just 13 laps.

 

 

ROKiT Williams Racing were once again absent from day two but the Grove-squad are expected to take to the track Wednesday afternoon (today).

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Day Two Classification

 

 

Formula 1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Day Three Lineup

 

The third day of pre-season testing is currently underway and here are the driver lineups:

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10 EQ Power+: Valtteri Bottas (Morning)/Lewis Hamilton (Afternoon).

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow SF90: Sebastian Vettel.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – Honda RB15: Max Verstappen.

Renault F1 Team R.S.19: Nico Hulkenberg (Morning)/Daniel Ricciardo (Afternoon).

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team VF-19: Pietro Fittipaldi (Morning)/Romain Grosjean (Afternoon).

McLaren-Renault F1 Team MCL34: Carlos Sainz.

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team RP19: Sergio Perez.

Alfa Romeo Racing C38: Kimi Raikkonen.

Scuderia Toro Rosso – Honda STR14: Daniil Kvyat.

ROKiT WiIliams Racing FW42: George Russell.