Day 2 of F1 testing: As it happened

Mark Scott
Charles Leclerc Ferrari

Charles Leclerc described his Ferrari as "extremely hard to drive" in practice for the British Grand Prix

See how a second day of pre-season testing unfolded at the Circuit de Catalunya with Mercedes’ DAS system the centre of attention.

All times local (Morning session begins at 0900 and ends at 1300; Afternoon session runs from 1400 to 1800). Manually refresh to update the page.

Day two timesheet: 1. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, 134 laps, 1:17.091; 2. Sergio Perez, Racing Point, 145 laps, +0.256; 3. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, 41 laps, +0.658; 4. Alex Albon, Red Bull, 134 laps, +0.821; 5. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, 147 laps, +1.030; 6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 73 laps, +1.063 ; 7. George Russell, Williams, 116 laps, +1.175; 8. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 49 laps, +1.244; 9. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 106 laps, +1.295; 10. Lando Norris, McLaren, 137 laps, +1.383; 11. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 158 laps, +1.405; 12. Esteban Ocon, Renault, 52 laps, +1.466; 13. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 77 laps, +2.216

1805: Thanks very much for sticking with us today. You can read our report of everything that happened here, and join us tomorrow at 9am local time to do it all again, cheers!

1800: Nobody improves, and that’s that for Day 2 of testing. Raikkonen tops it ahead of Perez and Ricciardo, with Grosjean completing the most laps.

1754: Just six minutes left of the session but most of the drivers are heading out one last time nonetheless.

1747: Along with Kimi and Grosjean, Bottas also won’t be coming back out as his car has an electrical problem.

1746: We have a red flag! At last! Raikkonen pulls over with a mechanical issue and gets out of the car, bringing the session to a halt.

1737: Here’s how Grosjean’s session came to an end; he’s had worse…

1733: Just under half an hour to go here.

1721: We’ve had our biggest incident of testing so far, courtesy of Grosjean. The Frenchman was enjoying a good day but lost control and went into the gravel before clipping the barrier. He managed to drive back to the garage, but rear-wing damage means his session is over.

1719: Kimi goes top! He puts in a 1:17.091 on soft tyres to do so, before complaining about the sun getting in his eyes.

1704: A quick lap at last! It comes courtesy of Raikkonen who moves up to P2, two tenths behind Perez.

1647: Grosjean tops the charts in terms of laps completed today. The Frenchman has done 125 and is still going strong.

1625: It hasn’t been a great day for Renault, despite Ricciardo sitting in P2. He took a while to get out on track this morning, while Ocon, currently in the garage, has only managed 28 laps.

1617: Quite a few race simulations on track, which of course means not much happening on the lap board.

1550: Vettel heads back out moves up to P6 with a 1:27.2. He’s just under a second off Perez.

1544: Vettel’s back in the garage and talking to his engineers. P8 for the German right now.

1530: Kimi with a carbon copy of his compatriots spin.

1518: Albon, on a decent lap, goes far too deep at Turn 10 and loses it.

1514: Vettel moves up to P8, doing a 1:18.4.

1510: Bottas the latest driver to spin at the dreaded Turn 13. It is an unlucky number, after all.

1452: All fixed down at Renault it seems with Esteban Ocon putting himself on the leaderboard in P12.

1442: No improvements yet from the drivers continuing after the morning session.

1428: And there he goes, Vettel heads out onto the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time in this test.

1423: Sebastian Vettel is getting suited and booted. It looks like he is over the worst of his flu and we should see the four-time World Champion for the first time in 2020 very soon.

1419: Renault reporting a damaged floor after Ricciardo went over a kerb, they expect to miss 40 minutes of this afternoon session. Red Bull seem ready to go again very soon.

1414: Valtteri Bottas takes to the track for the first time today in the W11.

1406: The doors are closed down at Red Bull also now, oh dear. It’s unclear at the moment what the issue is.

1401: We’re underway for the afternoon session here in Barcelona. Norris heads straight out onto the circuit.

1300: And that’s it for the morning session. Perez leads the way with a four-tenth margin over Ricciardo. And still no red flag! Make sure to read the full report from the session here.

1255: Leclerc gets a big snap of oversteer into the chicane, he rescues the slide and recovers on to the track.

1240: 20 minutes remaining in this morning session.

1228: Hamilton brings up the century – 100 laps in the bag. Meanwhile, the cameras have captured the Renault team having a very close look at the footage of his moving steering wheel.

1212: More encouraging signs for Williams today with Russell now completing 56 laps and within a second of the ultimate pace.

1153: Mercedes are describing Hamilton’s fancy wheel as a “steering mode”, and it seems it isn’t only here for testing.

1147: Albon jumps up to P3 on the C2 tyres. He is eight tenths down on Perez at the top.

1143: Perez was set there to shatter his own best time of the session and likely set the fastest time of testing so far, but either he backed right off or made a big unseen mistake.

1137: The garage doors have been closed down at Renault. Rememeber under the new rules a team can only do that now if they need to basically take their car to pieces.

1133: Russell completes lap 41 of his day as he improves to P4 within a second of Perez.

1130: We are into the last 90 minutes of this morning session – Perez continues to lead the way from Ricciardo.

1108: Hamilton has been attracting attention this morning for his steering wheel rather than his times. You can read more about this moving wheel here, and see it in action.

1100: It’s been a quiet morning for George Russell. He has been out there for a while but with his first hot lap he moves up to P7 on the C3 compound.

1053: Sergio Perez cranks up the pace even further in his pink Mercedes with a 1:17.347 on the C3s.

1040: As for lap totals, Grosjean currently leads the way after completing 37.

1028: Gasly is up to P2 again on the C3s, but still only Ricciardo is in the 1:17’s.

1024: Oh, hello Danny Ric. The first driver into the 1:17’s – a 1:17.749 on the C3s shoots the Renault man up to P1.

1023: Hamilton is on the track again, but instead of moving into the softer compounds like his rivals, he is on to the hardest C1 tyres.

1021: Alex Albon has been like a Jack-in-the-box jumping in and out of the RB16. But they have strapped him in now and he sets a 1:18.462 on the C2s.

1012: Hopefully Gasly enjoyed that time at the top – can he respond after Leclerc takes over P1 with a 1:18.335? Going for a trip onto the old track at Turn 10 isn’t going to help the Frenchman much.

1006: Gasly improves on his own benchmark after finding another two tenths.

1004: That AlphaTauri AT01 continues to look handy as Pierre Gasly takes over top spot courtesy of his 1:18.749. It’s worth noting that was on the C3s though.

0958: Kimi Raikkonen is out there on the C3s. That Alfa Romeo C39 is looking a bit twitchy as he builds up some heat and pace.

0954: That’s 21 laps completed for Hamilton as he comes into the pits – Mercedes get a cheeky practice pit stop in.

0949: Daniel Ricciardo wants in on the C2 action as he splits the top two with a 1:19.140.

0946: Big improvement for Hamilton who pumps in a 1:18.915 on the C2s. Charles Leclerc goes within three tenths after a 1:19.202 on the same compound.

0936: Romain Grosjean has a snap on the left front as he brakes heading into Turn 10. He navigates his Haas VF-20 around the corner and continues on his way but has another moment at the start of his next lap. It’s no surprise then that he’s told over team radio to build tyre temperature.

0927: Just Lewis Hamilton with a time on the board as it stands – a 1:20.993, but so far this morning he is running aero rakes like several other drivers.

0906: First spin of the day! Pierre Gasly, on his install lap, is into the gravel at Turn 9. He was going very slow and it is a very cold morning so he will have next to no grip in his tyres. He is able to bring the AT01 back to the pits.

0900: We have green lights. Lando Norris wins the first race of being the first driver out on track and is swiftly followed by the likes of George Russell, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez. The latter in his Mercedes W10 Racing Point RP20.

0845: Here is who you can expect to see in action today, with Sebastian Vettel set for his first laps this afternoon after he was ruled out on Wednesday due to illness.

Mercedes: Hamilton (AM)/Bottas (PM)
Ferrari: Leclerc (AM)/Vettel (PM)
Red Bull: Albon
McLaren: Norris
Renault: Ricciardo (AM)/Ocon (PM)
AlphaTauri: Gasly
Racing Point: Perez
Alfa Romeo: Raikkonen
Haas: Grosjean
Williams: Russell

0830: Good morning, afternoon or evening depending on where you are in the world and welcome back to Barcelona for the second day of pre-season testing. The track lights will go green again in 30 minutes’ time at 0900 local. Get yourself a beverage then get strapped in.

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