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Barcelona F1 test day two

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Sainz makes an improvement that's so small it's hardly worth talking about. But we just have.
Some lunchtime reading about a man we'll hopefully see on track this afternoon - Hamilton's influence at the Mercedes F1 team is now higher than ever. ADAM COOPER explains why, and what the implications are:
Why Hamilton's Mercedes influence is at a new high
Verstappen pits, leaving Sirotkin, Sainz and Leclerc circulating. This is starting to feel like a normal test day at last, although a look at the temperatures shows nothing has really improved from earlier today when none of the teams seemed to fancy it. Perhaps they've realised this is as good as it's going to get.
Verstappen continues to improve marginally, although the people with the #GOMAX banners in the grandstand are probably just pleased he's out there after he barely made an appearance during the first four hours of the day.
Verstappen gets within six seconds of the pace with a 1m26.170s as he starts his 10th lap of the day.
Unexpected halo consequence #113: Bottas just tried to remove a tear-off from his visor coming down the pit lane, and it got stuck on the halo as he tried to discard it.
Verstappen does indeed post a time, a leisurely 1m35.176s gets him on the board.
After a busy 90 minutes or so, everyone except Verstappen is now back in the pits.
Verstappen stays out for a second lap on this latest run - and only his fifth lap of the day. Perhaps we'll finally see the Red Bull set a time, although he wasn't exactly on it as he came past the pits.
Gasly chucks in a new best final sector as he improves again, but stays fourth. McLaren always used to tell us their car was great in the final sector here and hindered by the Honda engine around the rest of the track. Toro Rosso seems to have at least found some speed in the final sector as well now it has switched to the Japanese engine.
Here's the latest lap count:

Bottas 47
Sirotkin 45
Leclerc 44
Gasly 39
Vandoorne 35
Vettel 35
Ocon 26
Sainz 22
Magnussen 6
Verstappen 3
Gasly moves back ahead of Sirotkin with a 1m21.5s, so he's up to fourth.
Sirotkin moves back ahead of Gasly. Both improved again, but this time the Russian improved the most. Both are on softs at the moment.
Sirotkin and Gasly are back at it, improving in quick succession as they were before. Just 0.019s between them, with the Toro Rosso narrowly ahead.
We hinted at Red Bull problems earlier, and now this from the team: "We had a leak in the fuel system which needed checking and fixing."
So, as predicted, lots of action leading up to and around the usual lunch break time of 1300 local time. At least quite a few of the teams seem to be making the most of the circuit being made available to them for an extra hour today.
Vandoorne is also out on the purple-marked ultrasofts, but hasn't improved on his earlier best.
Vettel had been on mediums for that one, before a quick trip to the pits. His last effort of 1m21.010s puts him within 0.740s of the top spot.
Improvements from Vettel, Sainz, Gasly and Leclerc all roll in as the clock strikes one, but none good enough to gain a position.
Magnussen pits the Haas after setting just a single timed lap. Vandoorne, Vettel, Sainz, Sirotkin, Gasly and Leclerc are all out on the tarmac now, though.
Plenty of improvements flooding in now: Vettel remains third on a 1m21.341s, while Sainz has jumped to fourth on a 1m22.559s. Magnussen is on the board with a time in the 1m42s.
Leclerc is out in the Sauber, improving to a 1m24.945s, but he remains stuck in eighth place.
Magnussen heads out in the Haas, so the Dane looks set to join the scorers just shy of the 1pm mark.
Vettel finds a little more time as he sets a 1m21.843s, but he isn't troubling Bottas and Vandoorne yet.
Sainz is also out on the softs and sets a new personal best of 1m23.566s, good for sixth-fastest. But he's only done 13 laps so far, least of anyone bar Magnussen (3) and Verstappen (1).
There we go! Bottas gives us the best lap of the day so far with a 1m20.970s, dislodging Vandoorne's previous hypersoft effort by a scant 0.055s.
Vettel finds a big chunk of time, setting a 1m22.337s, but he's still only third.
Bottas disappoints us by failing to improve on his best time after that brief excitement. He's on the soft tyre for this run.
Another improvement by Vettel, he stays third with a 1m23.227s.

By: Geoff Creighton

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