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Vettel keeps Ferrari on top on second morning of testing

23 Feb 2016

After setting the pace on Monday, Sebastian Vettel kept Ferrari at the top of the timesheets as testing continued at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain on Tuesday morning.

After bolting on Pirelli’s brand-new ultrasoft tyres for the first time this pre-season, the German clocked a lap of 1m 22.810s in his SF16-H, which was not only nearly two seconds quicker than last year’s pole position time in Spain but also 0.715s quicker than Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo could manage on the same rubber.

Nico Rosberg was third quickest at the lunch break as Mercedes continued to rack up the mileage with their F1 W07 Hybrid. Last year's world championship runner-up - whose best time came on the medium tyres - added a further 81 laps to the 156 managed by Lewis Hamilton in the Silver Arrows yesterday, as well as trialling a number of new aerodynamic parts. 

Sergio Perez was fourth for Force India in his maiden run in their new VJM09 machine, just ahead of Marcus Ericsson in Sauber's year-old C34 and Williams' Valtteri Bottas.

Pascal Wehrlein was an encouraging seventh for Manor, ahead of Renault's Jolyon Palmer and Haas' Esteban Gutierrez, who was consigned to the garage for the first 90 minutes of the session but later emerged with a newly strengthened front wing following the team's issues yesterday. 

The only red flag of the morning was caused by Max Verstappen, whose Toro Rosso stopped on track after completing 35 laps. The car was recovered to the pits and the Dutchman did a further 24 laps before the chequered flag, finishing one place back of Fernando Alonso's McLaren, which completed 71 laps.


Tuesday morning's unofficial testing times from Barcelona
POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF16-H 1:22.810   46
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:23.525 0.715 58
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:24.867 2.057 81
4 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:25.692 2.882 48
5 Marcus Ericcson Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:25.734 2.924 49
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:25.872 3.062 56
7 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 1:25.925 3.115 36
8 Jolyon Palmer Renault R.S.16 1:26.189 3.379 41
9 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:26.931 4.121 32
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:27.198 4.388 71
11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:27.346 4.536 59


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