Barcelona second F1 test day two
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Into the pits for Bottas, Massa and Hulkenberg. Bottas appears on the other side, with Raikkonen and Perez already back on track and onto flying laps.
Tyre art...possibly. © LAT
Bottas doesn't quite improve, but it's very close – super-softs again, and a 1m19.383s. Mercedes looking strong on day two.
Bottas has set the fastest middle sector so far on this lap.
Bottas wants a go at going round again. He's keen to overtake Massa, who has moved past his lap count on this run and hit 53 (and counting).
Alonso back in the pits, so it's just Massa and Hulkenberg doing circles with less than 45 minutes to go.
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There's your explanation for Ferrari's earlier troubles: a "fluid systems check".
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Close but no cigar for Massa! He uses ultra-softs to go less than two tenths slower than Bottas. It's a 1m19.487s. That's his quickest time in testing so far.
Massa's on a good lap...
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Massa, Hulkenberg and Alonso are providing the on-track entertainment. Alonso's on his 27th lap and has been running comfortably in the 1m23s on this soft-tyre run.
Bottas back in the pits and with 52 laps to his name. We missed him rack up his half century. Presumably as he crossed the line he whipped off his helmet quickly, raised it (and his bat) in salute to grandstand faithful and then cracked on to defend a Yorker.
Cricket.
Cricket.
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Lap count heading into the final 50 minutes of the first half of the day:
1 Bottas (51)
2 Massa (49)
3 Verstappen (34)
4 Hulkenberg (38)
5 Raikkonen (21)
6 Sainz (31)
7 Grosjean (40)
8 Wehrlein (45)
9 Alonso (24)
10 Perez (37)
1 Bottas (51)
2 Massa (49)
3 Verstappen (34)
4 Hulkenberg (38)
5 Raikkonen (21)
6 Sainz (31)
7 Grosjean (40)
8 Wehrlein (45)
9 Alonso (24)
10 Perez (37)
Not a particularly busy morning for McLaren so far, but the claims are that is through choice, at the moment. © LAT
Alonso improves slightly, to a 1m23.041s. But he was 0.9s off his own best final sector.
Alonso's back on track after half an hour in the garage – and posts a personal best first sector on his first flying lap.
That's a good lap time from Massa, breaking into the 1m19s on soft tyres.
Massa's improved to a 1m19.909s.
Raikkonen jumps to fifth with a 1m21.324s on soft tyres.
And Raikkonen's getting on with it with two personal best sectors...
The most notable of those is the Ferrari. Raikkonnen hasn't been seen on track for two hours.
The party's getting started. Into the final hour and we have six cars on track – Williams, Renault, Toro Rosso, Haas, Ferrari and Sauber.
"Non!" Grosjean does not like being bumped down by the Sauber. He pulls a 1m22.428s out of his bag of tricks to go sixth in the Haas.
Bigger jump from Wehrlein this time on soft tyres, to a 1m23s flat. That puts him seventh, ahead of Alonso, Grosjean and Perez.
Another improvement from Perez, down to a 1m23.674s. Grosjean has joined the track to make it a three-car party. But everybody's invited, so hopefully more teams show up soon.
An improvement for Perez, to a 1m23.735s. He's on medium tyres, and is 4.4s off Bottas's impressive benchmark.
The pitlane klaxon blares its awful tune to signify Massa's return. His FW40 heads to its garage for a rest. Perez now has Wehrlein for company on track, but there's more space between them than there was the Force India and the Williams.
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Massa improves on soft tyres to a 1m20.181s. More encouraging pace from Williams, which turned a few heads yesterday: 
Two cars on a 2.8-mile circuit and Massa's within what would be DRS range of Perez. The scenes.
A personal best in the first sector for Massa.
Williams didn't feed Autosport Live eggs yesterday, it's just an expression. Although we have had eggs at the hotel both mornings.
Anywhere, there are cars on track now, so this can end.
Anywhere, there are cars on track now, so this can end.
Massa's also on track in the Williams, so let's give the Grove team a bit of credit as well. Especially as a bearded member of the team helped feed a starving Autosport Live yesterday. Good eggs.
Force India keeps its people's champion status alive and well by sending out Perez to break the silence.
Back in black - James Allison is trackside with his new employer, Mercedes. Pic: XPB
All 10 cars are the in the pits with 75 minutes to go this morning. It's times like these you need a people's champion like Ocon to break the silence.
Another bit of going-out-and-coming-straight-back-in-again from Bottas, who is making slow progress towards the 50-lap mark. Nothing slow about his time though. Muy rapido.
There are improvements from the top of the times to the bottom – Wehrlein posts a 1m24.896s in the Sauber. He's been quietly going about his business today, and is up to 34 laps.
After a cool-down lap, Bottas has gone even quicker in the first sector...but he can't keep that up throughout the lap and it's a 1m19.777s.
Ben Anderson
For those wondering about McLaren's low lap count so far today, I'm told there have been no further engine problems. Apparently the team is just working through what has become a truncated test programme.
By: Geoff Creighton
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