Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text
Formula 1

Barcelona second F1 test day two

Live Text

Sort by
The track falls silent.
Ericsson returns to the pits, which is a shame. Maybe we'll park our Sauber facts until he re-emerges.
Ben Anderson
Could spy the car up on stands as I wandered past, so Verstappen on track will not be imminent. Fire up just finished down at the Renault works team too. Can hear some wheel guns going off so perhaps that car is closer to being ready to return to action.
Five drivers have led a grand prix for Sauber. Can you name them? Answers on Twitter. Five Autosport Live points to the winner.
That will excite these fans in the grandstand. Pic: LAT

That will excite these fans in the grandstand. Pic: LAT

Ben Anderson
I can hear the replacement Renault engine running in the Red Bull garage, so perhaps not long until they're out again - provided systems checks are all clear.
Perez is back on track. The crowd goes wild. Positively jubilant.
The most common finishing position for a Sauber is ninth. Since the team's F1 debut, it has finished ninth 50 times.
Ericsson gets on the board with a 1m25.600s.
Raikkonen's back in the pits in the Ferrari.
Speaking of clean, Ericsson's appeared for the first time today in the Sauber.

Sauber, as you all probably know, is German for clean.
Sainz is back out in the Toro Rosso. Raikkonen, Hamilton and Stroll aren't pulling up trees, but everyone's running quite cleanly.
Information
Headlines from the opening hour of the afternoon:

• Hamilton and Stroll log their first laps of the day/week respectively
• Perez solidifies Force India’s ‘people’s champion’ status by breaking the early silence
• Red Bull confirms an engine change for Verstappen
• Sainz and Raikkonen appeared
• Autosport Live got a little bit weird
Information
Lap count update:

1 Bottas (70)
2 Massa (63)
3 Raikkonen (43)
4 Verstappen (34)
5 Hamilton (13)
6 Hulkenberg (61)
7 Perez (61)
8 Sainz (51)
9 Grosjean (54)
10 Stroll (17)
11 Wehrlein (59)
12 Alonso (27)
Stroll, and Williams, will be hoping for a below-the-radar sort of afternoon. Pic: LAT

Stroll, and Williams, will be hoping for a below-the-radar sort of afternoon. Pic: LAT

Almost an hour of this session gone and, much as we've joked about track inactivity, McLaren really need to get out there now. Even Ferrari overhauled its tally in the morning, despite Raikkonen losing a lot of running to a "fluid systems issue".

Red Bull might be sidelined by this Renault engine problem, but Verstappen has more laps in the bag – and more importantly Red Bull's much further along in its programme than McLaren-Honda.
The soft-shod Stroll does one lap a couple of tenths off his personal best time, but a bit further off the next time round. He's up to 14 laps – his next target is to overhaul Alonso's tally of 27.
Noise alert! It sounds like a Raikkonen. It is a Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver heads onto the circuit for the first time in this session.
Hamilton posts a personal best in the middle sector and the last sector and jumps to fifth on a 1m20.702s.
Crash
Confirmation that Red Bull's had an engine change. That's a legitimate reason for us not seeing Verstappen so far in this afternoon session.
Autosport
That's something that Gary Anderson looked at a while ago, mind:

Should F1 drivers race for every team? - F1 - Autosport Plus

Is it possible to make Formula 1 drivers swap between all the teams over a season? Will fuel-saving be more aggressive this year with faster cars? And should teams become stakeholders in F1? These questions, and more, are answered by our resident expert

Should F1 drivers race for every team? - F1 - Autosport Plus
But Sainz has been replaced on track by Hamilton – and his Mercedes. That's not a suggestion that Hamilton's jumped in the Toro Rosso. That'd be something.
Stroll's improved to a 1m22.510s. Sainz didn't spend long on track – he's back in again.
Anyway, the Toro Rosso looks nice and Sainz is on track with soft tyres bolted on. Stroll's also back out in the Williams. The track's heaving.
The Toro Rosso is beautiful. Way better now it has a bespoke livery. The old one looked like someone had dropped a jam jar on a Prost.
Sainz running the show gives us another chance to run a photo of the STR12. Pic: LAT

Sainz running the show gives us another chance to run a photo of the STR12. Pic: LAT

We've been forgiven – Sainz rolls right through the pitlane and out the other side. Few low-speed burnouts and he's good to go.
Sainz is back in the pits. We deserve that.
Sorry. You deserve better from us. We can be better. We will be better.
The Toro Rosso fires up and leaves the pitlane. Sainz that things are improving? Absolutely.
Perez pits. Hearts break around the Circuit de Catalunya.
Perez backs off and goes again...slower. A 1m21.751s this time.
Another set of super-soft tyres for Perez, but he's a tenth short of improving his best.
Hamilton's back in the pits now. First run of the day is completed. Insert the 'check' emoji here.
'Ello, 'ello, who's this then? Why it's Perez of course. Force India sets the Mexican on his way once more.
Hamilton completes the set, and moves to seventh (above Sainz) on a 1m21.371s. Good gain, that. Five laps in the book for the three-time champion.
Hamilton backs right off and posted a 1m47s. Then throws in a personal best first and second sector...
Where's Lewis? Pic: XPB, obviously from not right now.

Where's Lewis? Pic: XPB, obviously from not right now.

By: Geoff Creighton

Published: