Posted on 25th June 2015
On the final day of the final in-season test in Austria today, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the pace at the front of the grid ahead of Ferrari test driver Esteban Gutierrez and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.
It was an all-round smoother day for the teams after rain played havoc on Tuesday, with a brief smattering of drizzle just before lunch the only interruption weather-wise.
The Red Bull team was on course for a trouble-free day when Daniel Ricciardo stopped at the pit-lane entry with a brake problem, bringing out the red flag with an hour to go. But the team made some adjustments on the car and got him back out with a few laps remaining in the session.
Gutierrez had a moment when he slid off the track and ran through the gravel just before lunch, but he rejoined unscathed and completed another lap before pitting. Before the session broke for lunch, Bottas set the pace in the morning with a 1.10.029s; even though Williams did not run the unique winglet spotted on the car on Tuesday.
Rosberg topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1.09.113s and was 0.818s ahead of Ferrari’s Esteban Gutierrez who finished the session in second place, and was one of eight drivers to complete more than 100 laps.
Valtteri Bottas ended the session in third place despite setting the pace in the morning as he did not improve as he switched from doing aerodynamic testing in the morning to set-up work in the afternoon. But Bottas finished ahead of reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann who made his debut in a Formula 1 car today and he achieved the most laps of anybody with 158 laps and finished the session in fourth place.
Pascal Wehrlein swapped the Mercedes (which he drove on Tuesday) for the Force India and finished fifth fastest with 132 laps on the board ahead of Lotus reserve driver Jolyon Palmer who ended the session in sixth place.
With all eyes on McLaren-Honda and their planned upgrade package that was brought to the Austrian GP that sadly were managed beyond repair when Fernando Alonso crashed in Sunday's race. However, the parts the team had spares for were flown to Austria in time for the start of the session; with McLaren insisting it had enough to carry out some useful evaluations of the package.
As a result, Fernando Alonso finished the session in seventh place today after the McLaren-Honda team tested various new aero components (which included its shorter nose) and managed more than 100 laps running which is great progress for the team after a disappointing Austrian GP.
Despite all the problems he encountered on the track today, Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in eighth place and managed to get 116 laps under his belt. Ricciardo managed to finish ahead of Sauber driver Felipe Nasr who ended the session in ninth place.
The classification of the second day of the in-season test in Austria is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.09.113, 110 laps
2. Esteban Gutierrez, Ferrari, 1.09.931, 110 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.10.029, 79 laps
4. Marco Wittmann, Toro Rosso, 1.10.103, 158 laps
5. Pascal Wehrlein, Force India-Mercedes, 1.10.253, 132 laps
6. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.10.373, 109 laps
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.10.718, 104 laps
8. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.10.757, 116 laps
9. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.10.922, 138 laps
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
