Barcelona F1 test day two
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Another improvement for Ricciardo, who puts in a 1m22.197s to close the gap on Gasly at the top.
Ricciardo slots into second behind Gasly with a 1m22.446s on C3 tyres.
Leclerc is back out, and if you thought it was odd that Ferrari started him off on the hardest slick, it's now switched him to intermediates for this run. Bold strategy.
Missed out on Monday's action? Why not recap the early talking points from testing while we wait for things to properly kick off on day two.
Stopwatch
Gasly gets below 1m22s with a 1m21.916s next time around on this run. Solid early mileage for Red Bull on day two with Honda.
Stopwatch
Gasly gets the job done next time around, going fastest with a 1m22.338s on C3 tyres.
Gasly produces two fastest sectors overall, but he ends the lap a tenth down on Giovinazzi with a 1m22.7s.
Gasly moves up to second with a 1m24.2s on the yellow C3 tyres.
Stopwatch
Giovinazzi goes quicker that time, getting down to a 1m22.636s.
Gasly gets his first time on the board with a 1m37.5s on C3s, while Giovinazzi falls less than a tenth short of his best so far today.
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Stopwatch
Giovinazzi cranks things up, following up a 1m24.1s with a 1m23.339s.
Baffled by all this talk of C1, C2, C3, etc? Then familiarise yourself with this and you'll be in the slightly less confused state we are. Remember, this is for testing only, as on race weekends we'll be calling whichever three compounds have been chosen Hard, Medium and Soft
Albon has made it back to the Toro Rosso garage after his early faux pas
Giovinazzi splits Hamilton and Leclerc with a 1m26.5s on the yellow C3 tyres.
Hamilton pits after ending that run with some slow laps, and he's got eight on the board by the time we hit 30 minutes for the day. Giovinazzi has headed out to make sure the track doesn't fall silent.
Scott Mitchell
Yesterday, Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost was asked about the challenge Albon faces by not only being a rookie, but one who has no F1 experience beyond a few shakedown laps coming into this week.
Unsurprisingly, Tost defended his young charge - admitting it is a “challenge” but tipping the Formula 2 race winner to be a “positive surprise”.
“People don’t know him so much, and we observed him last year and also the years before,” said Tost. “You must not forget he was successful in F3 and GP3, together with [2016 champion Charles] Leclerc, he could also beat him a couple of times.
“In F2 he showed some good races and good overtaking moves, he won four races. In the simulator he did a good job. I am more than optimsitic that he will do a good job.”
Unsurprisingly, Tost defended his young charge - admitting it is a “challenge” but tipping the Formula 2 race winner to be a “positive surprise”.
“People don’t know him so much, and we observed him last year and also the years before,” said Tost. “You must not forget he was successful in F3 and GP3, together with [2016 champion Charles] Leclerc, he could also beat him a couple of times.
“In F2 he showed some good races and good overtaking moves, he won four races. In the simulator he did a good job. I am more than optimsitic that he will do a good job.”
Hamilton tours past the pits this time, ending that stunning sequence of improvements.
Stopwatch
He's gone quicker again - 1m25.148s. The world champion is the only driver on track right now.
Stopwatch
Hamilton has gone faster again - 1m26.317s.
Early 'pacesetter' Hamilton out on track
Leclerc is kind enough to come down the pitlane at a slow enough speed for us to definitively ID his set of C1 tyres. What a nice chap.
Stopwatch
Hamilton goes faster - getting down to a 1m27.469s. He and Leclerc are the only drivers on track at the moment.
Leclerc is 10 seconds off Hamilton's pace, running what appeared to be the hardest C1 tyres. They are really hard to spot! If everyone could stay away from the C1s and the C5s it would make our lives a lot easier.
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Stopwatch
Hamilton sets the first time of the day, a 1m32.5s as he weaves down the pit straight trying to get some heat into his white-marked C2 tyres.
Norris, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly are all keen and head straight out after the red flag.
Green flag
We were wrong - the recovery truck didn't have a shortcut back to the paddock. But it's completed its lap with a Toro Rosso on its back and we are back to an open circuit here.
Scott Mitchell
That spin is really unfortunate for Albon, who needs this to be a quick turnaround back in the Toro Rosso garage so he can crack on and get some mileage. Remember, last week’s Toro Rosso shakedown was Albon’s first on-track experience of a grand prix car. At best, he’s set to go into his Formula 1 debut in Australia next month with just four days of testing under his belt.
It might sound weird but while it’s an obvious mistake from a rookie, it’s not really a rookie mistake. We saw many drivers get caught out yesterday on their outlaps, including the oldest and most experienced man on the grid: Kimi Raikkonen.
That may sound apologetic but let’s give Albon some time. Hopefully he’ll go on to rack up a ton of laps (literally!) and end the day much happier than he’s started.
It might sound weird but while it’s an obvious mistake from a rookie, it’s not really a rookie mistake. We saw many drivers get caught out yesterday on their outlaps, including the oldest and most experienced man on the grid: Kimi Raikkonen.
That may sound apologetic but let’s give Albon some time. Hopefully he’ll go on to rack up a ton of laps (literally!) and end the day much happier than he’s started.
The recovery vehicles have left the scene, so we should be back running shortly.
We realise we've not reported on the flatbed recovery truck's progress with our usual enthusiasm. Sorry, it's early. But the car is now being lifted onto the back of the truck, which can hopefully sneak off the circuit towards the paddock around Turn 6, and then we can get back to green flag running pretty quickly.
This is not the start Albon would have been hoping for
There was some talk yesterday about cold tyres being especially problematic this year, with Romain Grosjean highlighting that - for his liking - too many drivers spun on out laps yesterday. The counter argument to that, which Raikkonen jokingly hinted at, is that perhaps, you know, it's really cold at 9am in February, so you have to be prepared for it. Pirelli are probably more interested in the warm-up characteristics of their tyres in normal in-season conditions, and unfortunately that means the drivers have to try to deal with it.
Spot the tyre marks...
Red flag
The Toro Rosso is in the gravel, facing the wrong way. It looks like he is between Turns 4 and 5, having lost it on the power exiting Turn 4.
Giovinazzi returns to the pits, so using our detective powers we reckon it's Albon that is responsible for this earliest of early stoppages.
Norris has made it back to the pits already, so using our detective powers we've narrowed it down to Albon or Giovinazzi as the culprit.
Red flag
Red flag! That's even quicker than we managed yesterday!
By: Geoff Creighton
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