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Formula 1 Barcelona February Testing

F1 Barcelona pre-season test - Day 2

Minute by minute updates on the second day of the 2022 Barcelona F1 pre-season test

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36

After a busy opening day of action which saw McLaren's Lando Norris top the times, all 10 teams are in action again for the start of the new era of F1, as the teams continue testing the new cars devised under the new technical regulations.

Track action gets underway at 8am GMT and finishes at 5pm GMT. The day will be split by a one-hour lunch break (12pm-1pm GMT) which can be reduced if requested due to lost track time from either red flags or poor weather conditions.

The second day will provide another good look at all of the 2022 F1 cars from every team, to see which teams have got it right and which have work to do. While never fully taken as the true pecking order, due to teams hiding outright performance levels by sandbagging their speeds, the tests still reveal an overview while giving teams which are struggling nowhere to hide.

The Barcelona shakedown test, conducted without live TV coverage or live timing, runs between 23-25 February. A second official test will follow in Bahrain on 10-12 March ahead of the 2022 F1 season opener at the same venue, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on 18-20 March.

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Gasly delayed his 100-lap milestone having pitted at the end of his 99th - what a tease. Despite the two red flags today it has still been a strong mileage day for Alpine, AlphaTauri, McLaren and Ferrari.
We have our first driver centurion of the day: Ocon shoots past the 100-lap mark for Alpine and is about to be followed in the feat by Gasly for AlphaTauri.
Stopwatch
Russell steps up the pace in the Mercedes with a 1m21.890s on the C2 tyres to go P6 overall.
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Stopwatch
Vettel is the latest improver, putting in a 1m22.840s to move up to P13 overall.
Stopwatch
Leclerc moves up to P5 on the overall times with a 1m21.764s.
Mechanical problem
Haas says a damaged fuel pump caused Mazepin to stop on track earlier.

Ricciardo is also back on track and begins his first timed effort since the red flag tailing Leclerc on the main straight. As was the case yesterday, the drivers are very keen to see how the cars behave when following.

Green flag
And away we go again! Latifi and Ocon nip out straight away, quickly followed by Leclerc and Vettel.
Mazepin's Haas has been collected and cleared, still awaiting news on the exact cause of the stoppage, but the track action will resume at 15:37 local time.
Mazepin has been given a lift back to the Haas garage in a circuit marshal car. I wonder how much that taxi fare is.
Our initial suspicion was Ricciardo may have caused the red flag as he dramatically eased off the gas going down the main straight just moments before, but it is indeed Mazepin who has stopped in sector two.
Red flag
Red flag! Mazepin has come a cropper on the track.
Mercedes W13 detail

Mercedes W13 detail

Photo by: Giacomo Rauli

Some gills have appeared on the Mercedes engine covers, similar to those spotted on the Aston Martin and others. Well, it is testing after all.

Mazepin makes a belated start to his afternoon action having missed more than an hour already. Haas team-mate Schumacher enjoyed largely trouble-free running this morning, so the team had made a good start on catching up from yesterday's issues.

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Here's the latest F1 developments over Russia's invasion of Ukraine: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-teams-set-for-crisis-meeting-to-discuss-russian-gp/8459929/
Russell gives it a 'Stars In Their Eyes' entrance as he emerges in a cloud of smoke from the Mercedes garage. Nothing to be too alarmed about, the Merc has been doing it fairly frequently during testing without any signs of trouble.
Vettel has company on track once again as Gasly, Zhou, Leclerc and Ocon get going again.
Vettel is a lonely figure on the Barcelona track currently, not that he'll mind too much, as the rest of the runners take a breather in the garages.
Stopwatch
Leclerc duly completes his opening five-lap salvo with a personal best of 1m24.565s to go P12.
Ricciardo's closest rival from this morning Sainz has handed over driving duties to Ferrari team-mate Leclerc who gets his afternoon running underway.
Breaking news

Verstappen blasts "very unfair" decision to drop F1 race director Masi

Away from the on-track action, Max Verstappen feels it was "very unfair" Michael Masi was removed as F1 race director following the 2021 Abu Dhabi controversy. Here's the full story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verstappen-blasts-very-unfair-decision-to-drop-f1-race-director-masi/8459196/
Timesheet-topper Ricciardo has come out for his first run of the afternoon, looking to carry the fine form McLaren has shown so far in Barcelona.
Stopwatch
Zhou is also on the timing sheet now with a 1m25.469s as he adapts to life as an F1 driver. Steady away.
Stopwatch
Latifi is quickly up to speed with a 1m22.063s to slot into seventh in the overall times, leading the early efforts from the afternoon-only runners.
Latifi has jumped into the Williams this afternoon and is out on the track for the first time this session, while F1 rookie Zhou makes his first appearance of 2022 pre-season testing for Alfa Romeo.
Afternoon all! How are we? Like Vettel and Russell who have just come out of the pits, I'm fuelled and ready for a long run programme.
And with that, I'll now leave you in the good hands of our Autosport.com editor Haydn Cobb - who will take over Live duties for this afternoon.
Pierre Gasly joins Vettel on the track, having done 61 laps this morning. Vettel ends his first lap around the circuit and crosses the line.
That sounds like a car leaving the garage - it is, and it's Sebastian Vettel, who kicks off the afternoon running.
No action so far the first 10 minutes of this session; hopefully something will emerge relatively shortly!
And it's gone quiet again. No queue at the end of the pitlane just yet, as the teams finish off their lunch.
There's a faint hum from the end of the pitlane - it seems someone's fired up and ready to go...
Green flag
F1's afternoon session now begins - and the light at the end of the pit exit turns green. Let the fun continue.
Which team is going to be first to 100 laps today? Ferrari got to the century mark first yesterday, with the F1-75 looking reliable. And good. It looks very good. 

 

Here's the current state of play with lap counts in this morning's session:

Sainz - 71 laps
Ocon - 66
Schumacher - 66
Ricciardo - 65
Gasly - 61
Stroll - 55
Albon - 47
Hamilton - 40
Perez - 38
Bottas - 21

By: Haydn Cobb

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