Nico Rosberg tops the timesheets on Day 1 of the second pre-season F1 test at Barcelona

At the second pre-season F1 test of the 2016 season (but first day of the test) at the Circuit de Barcelona, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was quickest ahead of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and McLaren driver Fernando Alonso.

The Mercedes team split their running between their two drivers, with Rosberg driving in the morning and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton taking over in the afternoon. But it was Nico Rosberg who topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1.23.022 on a qualifying-style run and was just 0.212s off the best time of last week, which was set by Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari on ultra-soft tyres.

After flying under the radar for most of the first test, Williams indulged in some laps on the ultra-soft tyres on Tuesday afternoon. With Valtteri Bottas using the new compound to finish the day in second place; just 0.207s off Rosberg on the soft tyres — but more importantly finished the day with a healthy 123 laps.

At the first day of the test, the McLaren-Honda team used the time between tests to complete a filming day in an attempt to ensure the hydraulic and coolant leaks of the first week were fixed. Things appeared to be going well in the morning, but just before the lunch break Fernando Alonso stopped at the pit exit with a telemetry glitch. The problem was fixed by the afternoon and in the final hour Fernando Alonso on the soft tyres put in a lap time that allowed him to finish in third place.

However, Ferrari’s day was less impressive. Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest medium tyre lap time with a 1:24.836 which made him finish in the timesheets in fourth place but he was restricted to just only 71 laps.

He completed 42 laps before lunch as Ferrari focused on aerodynamic work and a series of set-up changes, but came to a halt at the end of the pit lane with a gear selection issue as the session resumed in the afternoon. The SF-16H remained in the garage until the final 90 minutes when it re-emerged and clocked up another 29 laps.

Red Bull also saw its track time limited on Monday after Daniil Kvyat returned from one of his morning runs with a rear brake on fire. The team made changes to the brake ducts in the afternoon and he returned to the track to finish the day on 69 laps and ended up in fifth place at the end of first day of testing.

World Champion Lewis Hamilton jumped in the car in the afternoon and completed a race simulation before setting his best time on medium tyres at the end of the day. Hamilton could only finish the day in sixth place, but he will get his chance to drive the W07 on low fuel later in the week. But combined, the two Mercedes drivers managed 171 laps today.

With a new livery painted on his Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen managed a total of 143 laps following the official launch of the STR11 and finished in seventh place ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg who also focused on mileage with a series of long runs resulting in a total mileage of 121 laps by the end of the day and ending the session in eighth place.

With the new Sauber C35 finally made its testing debut today, Felipe Nasr racked up 102
laps behind the wheel and ended the session in ninth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Renault in tenth place; who completed 119 laps before stopping in the final 15 minutes at Turn 3 and causing a late red flag.

The Haas team and their second week in F1 got off to a disappointing start with just 23 laps due to a fuel system issue. However, Esteban Gutierrez ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Manor rookie Rio Haryanto, who sat out of most of the morning session with an oil leak who finished the day in twelfth place.

Here's the official classification from Day One of the pre-season test as follows:-

Day One Timesheet:-

1. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:23.022 – 82 laps (morning)
2. Valtteri Bottas – Williams – 1:23:229 – 123 laps
3. Fernando Alonso – McLaren – 1:24.735 – 92 laps
4. Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1:24.836 – 71 laps
5. Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull – 1:25.049 – 69 laps
6. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:25.051 – 89 laps (afternoon)
7. Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso – 1:25.176 – 144 laps
8. Nico Hulkenberg – Force India – 1:25.336 – 121 laps
9. Felipe Nasr – Sauber – 1:25.493 – 103 laps
10. Kevin Magnussen – Renault – 1:25.760 – 119 laps
11. Esteban Gutierrez – Haas – 1:26.661 – 23 laps
12. Rio Haryanto – Manor – 1:26.625 – 45 laps

Keep your eyes peeled at Driving for Pleasure for our reports of the next three days of the second F1 pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa