Mercedes look ominously good on day two

Mercedes once again emphasised how dominant they are expected to be on a single lap, on day two of the second pre-season test.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton shared driving duties today, and it was Hamilton’s pace in the afternoon which sent out a strong message to their rivals.

Hamilton set a 1:24.923s, which was just 0.349s slower than Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest time of the day for Red Bull.

However, as Ricciardo set his time on the faster soft tyres, Hamilton registered his on the slower medium compound.

It is estimated that the difference between the tyres is roughly one second a lap, which suggests that Mercedes have a lot of pace in hand.

Ricciardo and Red Bull enjoyed a positive day, as they completed 144 laps and topped the timesheets.

Ricciardo is confident that they will be ready for the season-opening race in Australia next month, and they will certainly be competitive on today’s evidence.

They ran a full 66 lap race simulation in the afternoon, and their pace was impressive.

Ferrari continued their impressive pre-season as Kimi Raikkonen completed 90 laps and was second fastest. It appears that Ferrari and Red Bull have similar pace, as they matched each other on both tyres.

There was some positive news for McLaren, who surprisingly completed 59 laps today. Fernando Alonso wasn’t expected to do much running today after an engine problem yesterday, but racing director Eric Boullier said that they hit their target today.

Williams, who have gone under the radar so far, were third fastest, ahead of Sergio Pérez in the 2014 Force India.

1. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:24.574, 143 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:24.584, 90 laps;
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:24.672, 88 laps;
4. Sergio Pérez, Force India, 1:24.702, 121 laps;
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:24.923, 89 laps;
6. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:25.556, 66 laps;
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:25.961, 59 laps;
8. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus, 1:26.280, 77 laps;
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:27.334, 113 laps;
10. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:28.945, 100 laps.

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