BARCLEONA, Spain — Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time on the second morning of preseason testing to keep his McLaren team at the top of timesheets at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The test in Spain marks the dawn of a new era in Formula One as all ten teams get to grips with completely revised cars built to new regulations. The aim of the rules is to increase the chances of overtaking but the teams have two preseason tests to understand their cars before going wheel-to-wheel at the first race of the season in Bahrain on March 20.
Ricciardo’s teammate Lando Norris set the pace on the opening day with a 1:19.568 using the C4 compound tyre and Ricciardo followed up with a 1:20.355 on the harder C3 compound on Thursday morning.
The times remain rather meaningless at this stage of testing — they are still over three seconds shy of the qualifying lap record at the same circuit — but for what it’s worth, Ferrari was second fastest for the second day in a row, with Carlos Sainz setting a 1:20.546.
Pierre Gasly was third fastest for AlphaTauri ahead of Alex Albon in the Williams and Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin.
Last year’s championship challengers, Mercedes and Red Bull, both had low-key starts to the day compared to Wednesday, with 40 laps and 38 laps respectively.
They were also further down the order, with Sergio Perez eighth fastest as he drove the new Red Bull RB18 for the first time this preseason, and Lewis Hamilton ninth fastest in the Mercedes.
Alfa Romeo’s struggle with reliability appeared to continue into a second day, with Valtteri Bottas completing just 21 laps on his second day in the car.
Times at lunch:
1. Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren – 1:20.355 – 64 laps
2. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari – 1:20.546 – 71 laps
3. Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri – 1:20.764 – 59 laps
4. Alexander Albon – Williams – 1:21.531 – 46 laps
5. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin – 1:21.920 – 55 laps
6. Mick Schumacher – Haas – 1:21.949 – 64 laps
7. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo – 1:22.288 – 20 laps
8. Sergio Perez – Red Bull – 1:22.412 – 38 laps
9. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:22.562 – 40 laps
10. Esteban Ocon – Alpine – 1:23.280 – 66 laps
Source: www.espn.com