Posted on 8th March 2017
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas led the way during the second day of the second test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen who crashed in the afternoon.
But Ferrari's day nor Raikkonen's day didn’t quite go to plan following a lengthy stoppage before lunch due to a fluid systems check prior to lunch. But Raikkonen then caused the second red flag of the test when he spun and hit the barriers at Turn 3 just under two hours into the afternoon.
The impact damaged the front and the left side of the Ferrari SF70H and prevented him from running again for the rest of the day, but he did manage to gain 53 laps of running as well.
There was another red flag when Red Bull's Max Verstappen came to a stop at Turn 12 towards the end of a race simulation with 20 minutes left on the clock. Despite this, the Dutchman ended up with 102 laps to his credit (more than any other driver today).
During the final minutes of the session, Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson caused a third and final stoppage just moments after Verstappen’s car had been recovered, as he came to a halt at Turn 7.
But it was Valtteri Bottas who was fastest on the second day of the second F1 pre-season test with a stunning lap time of 1.19.310 and completed 70 laps. Bottas' lap time was four-tenths quicker than he managed during the opening test last week.
Bottas finished ahead of Felipe Massa in second place and ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in third place. Max Verstappen finished in fourth place ahead of Lance Stroll in fifth place, Lewis Hamilton in sixth place, Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place, Sergio Perez in eighth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in ninth place and Romain Grosjean in tenth place.
As we head further down the grid, Pascal Wehrlein ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Fernando Alonso in twelfth place, Marcus Ericsson in thirteenth place and Jolyon Palmer in fourteenth place.
Day Two Timesheet
1) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:19.310, 70 laps
2) Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:19.420, 63 laps
3) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:20.406, 53 laps
4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:20.432, 102 laps
5) Lance Stroll, Williams, 1:20.579, 59 laps
6) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:20.702, 79 laps
7) Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1:21.213, 61 laps
8) Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:21.297, 100 laps
9) Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1:21.872, 92 laps
10) Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1.21.887, 96 laps
11) Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 1.23.000, 59 laps
12) Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.23.041, 46 laps
13) Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1.23.384, 47 laps
14) Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.24.774, 29 laps
Keep your eyes peeled at Driving For Pleasure as we will be covering all the days of the second pre-season F1 test at Barcelona with our daily reports this week alongside the latest F1 news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
