Bottas tops second day in-season test in Barcelona, Dennis 11th
Published on 16 May 2018 by Mike Motilall
Valtteri Bottas topped the leaderboard today on the second day of in-season testing in Barcelona. The Mercedes-driver did this at the end of the morning session with a 1:16.904 on the super-softs. His time remained unchallenged throughout the entire day. Ferrari running Antonio Giovinazzi came close with a 1:16.972 on the hyper-softs, just a mere tenth. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Jake Dennis was allowed some action on the track and did 75 laps, a 1:20.440 being his fastest.
At the start of the second day of testing, there are many changes to see in the line-up. Simulator driver Jake Dennis is allowed to finish the test day for Red Bull Racing. Antonio Giovinazzi is in a Ferrari today after he drove for Sauber yesterday. We also see Robert Kubica back again behind the steering wheel of the Williams. The Pole was given an opportunity to do the first free practice the previous race weekend.
As Sean Galael remained inside for quite a while due to the replacement of the Honda power unit, the Indonesian was given some more track time from the Italian team. Pierre Gasly would assume control back again of the Toro Rosso around three o'clock.
Just like yesterday, Force India and McLaren are performing a Pirelli tyre test with a second car. The test is part of a development program for the tyres in 2019.
The entire test day goes by without a hitch except for two brief code red instances. The drivers all do their laps and eventually every team passes the 100 lap mark. Only Kevin Magnussen achieves a total of 75 laps around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. After he stalled on track, triggering the first code red, the Dane’s Haas remained longer inside than was initially planned. An hour and a half before the end of the afternoon session, the team decides not to venture back out again to investigate what has happened.
A few minutes after the track had been cleared, all goes South for Lando Norris, whose presence was on McLaren’s behalf. The leader in the Formula 2-championship came to a standstill in the first sector due to a small issue with the set-up in his orange racing car. After this he did resume his testing activities.
The time set by Valtteri Bottas in the morning session is not bettered during the afternoon. This puts the Finn at the top of the leaderboard of the second day of testing out of the four in-season test days. The next and final two in-season test days will take place on July 31st and August 1st on the Hungaroring in Budapest.
Barcelona In-Season Test - Day 2
Driver Team Time Difference Laps
1. Bottas Mercedes 1:16.904 139
2. Giovinazzi Ferrari 1:16.972 +0.068 148
3. Norris McLaren 1:18.039 +1.135 80
4. Magnussen Haas 1:18.274 +1.370 75
5. Mazepin Force India 1:18.344 +1.440 112
6. Aitken Renault 1:18.942 +2.038 120
7. Leclerc Sauber 1:18.993 +2.089 139
8. Kubica Williams 1:19.253 +2.349 123
9. Gasly Toro Rosso 1:19.410 +2.506 39
10. Vandoorne McLaren 1:19.914 +3.010 96
11. Dennis Red Bull Racing 1:20.440 +3.536 75
12. Gelael Toro Rosso 1:20.763 +3.859 83
13. Latifi Force India 1:21.412 +4.508 121
