Report
McLaren's woes continue as Vettel sets Day 1 pace in Spain
Barcelona delivered warm and dry conditions for the opening day of the second F1 test on Tuesday, to help alleviate the pain caused by last week’s miserable weather and allow the teams to get down to business.
Mercedes and Ferrari made the most of the conditions to get their pre-season programmes back on track, with each clocking up more than 170 laps apiece.
Sebastian Vettel’s leading time from the morning was good enough to keep him on top at the end of the day, as the leading teams turned their attention to longer runs.
Mercedes split their day between Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, with the duo completing a similar amount of laps on their way to the second and fourth fastest times.
While Mercedes and Ferrari will be happy with their day’s work, the same cannot be said for McLaren as gremlins struck throughout the day to limit Stoffel Vandoorne’s track time.
A battery problem limited Vandoorne to just a handful of laps in the morning. He got out again just before lunch but then stopped out on track in the afternoon and failed to return to the action.
Toro Rosso had a tough day, too, with Pierre Gasly – who clocked up the most laps in the first test – managing just 54 turns and spending much of the afternoon in the garage. Red Bull joined Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, Williams and Sauber in breaking the 100 lap mark, but Max Verstappen’s running was interrupted when he stopped out on track.
You can follow minute-by-minute Live Timing from pre-season testing on the Official F1 App. For more information, click here.
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