Vettel leads morning of second F1 test, McLaren completes 7 laps

Sebastian Vettel has wrestled the top time from Valtteri Bottas on the opening morning of the second Formula 1 pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya with McLaren hit by mechanical issues to see Stoffel Vandoorne complete just seven laps.

With warmer and hotter conditions greeting the F1 paddock at the start of the second test compared to last week’s maiden test which was hampered by snow and cold weather, the majority of teams looked to notch up vital mileage which had been lost last week.

Vettel topped the times with a 1m 20.396s having completed 86 laps before the lunch break for Ferrari with Mercedes and Bottas also impressing for speed and reliability with 86 laps and a best lap time two-tenths off the German driver’s timesheet-topper.

Verstappen, stepping in for an unwell Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull, claimed third place on the timesheet for Red Bull having produced the third-highest number of laps of any driver with 85 lap completed.

The biggest losers on the opening morning were McLaren after suffering back-to-back power issues with its Renault engine. Vandoorne crawled back to the pits after his first installation lap of the day before suffering the same issue with his MCL33 just four laps into his first long run which triggered a red flag as the Belgian driver came to a halt on the exit of turn 16.

McLaren reported it was investigating the power issue, which meant Vandoorne missed over three hours of track time, but did make it back out on track for one installation lap before the lunch break.

Pierre Gasly ensured it was another solid morning of running for the new Toro Rosso Honda partnership closing in on a half-century of laps and taking fourth place on the timesheet.

Kevin Magnussen enjoyed a better start to the second test for Haas after limited mileage last week to take fifth place ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg with both teams focusing on aero and long runs rather than outright performance times.

F1 rookie Sergey Sirotkin trailed Nico Hulkenberg in the Williams after stagnated running for the British squad but his best lap time was enough to move ahead of both the Alfa Romeo Sauber of Marcus Ericsson and the Force India of Sergio Perez.

A brief second red flag was triggered after debris was spilt on to the circuit on the exit of turn four midway through the morning session.