Report 2nd day of 2022 Pre-season testing

Event: Pre-Season testing
Track: Catalunya Circuit

Feb.24 - Just like the first day of testing, it was a beautiful day again at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the sun already shining at the start of the second day 2 of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Lando Norris topped the timing sheets for McLaren yesterday lap time wise. Ferrari and Red Bull drove the most laps, which is much more important during testing. The two teams who didn't make it to the century of laps were Alfa Romeo and Haas. The American outfit had a coolant leak in the morning before a floor issue curtailed their running in the afternoon. As for Alfa Romeo, they suffered a small broken part and a few other reliability issues according to Valtteri Bottas, who also confirmed that those should be fixed overnight.

Morning Session

Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly got their first taste of action this morning. McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo was already waiting at the end of the pit lane to enter the track as soon the lights turn green. Joining Ricciardo in heading straight out was Ferrari driver Sainz with aero rakes on the F1-75. Gasly also joinend the two others after the French driver had to sit out yesterday.

A lot of soft tyres were being bolted onto many cars early on today. And they were not only used for installation laps either, as plenty of drivers come round the final corner to continue their runs.

BARCELONA, SPAIN - FEBRUARY 24: Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 during Day Two of F1 Testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 24, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202202240076 // Usage for editorial use only //

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had a bit of a slow start. Russell and Hamilton split driving duties again today. Russell will drive today's afternoon session. The Barcelona mornings are still quite cold in February, therefore the afternoon session is far more useful.

20 minutes into the session the Haas VF-22 with Mick Schumacher behind the wheel drove out of the garage. The American outfit switched focus to their 2022 car much earlier than their rivals, opting to sacrifice performance in 2021 and as such, the pressure to deliver a decent package will be heightened here.

Haas and Alfa Romeo had some technical trouble yesterday. It took Alfa Romeo over 45 minutes to get Valtteri Bottas out on track.

Hamilton's early run didn't look very smooth. Later in the morning the W13 looked much smoother than earlier. The Mercedes was right up there yesterday in terms of the cars that impressed the paddock the most, along with Ferrari and McLaren. Red Bull's overall package was harder to judge, as it looked like they were heavier on fuel compared to their rivals.

An hour and a half into the morning session and the sun is finally starting to creep over the grandstand, illuminating the garages along the pit lane. It will be a little while yet until the main straight itself starts to warm up, with temperatures today a few degrees warmer than yesterday.

After two hours Bottas only had driven 12 laps with the C42 car of his new team Alfa Romeo. After minimal running yesterday, both parties would have hoped for a much more productive morning of data gathering.

Perez also just completed 21 laps, while his teammate Verstappen yesterday already had completes 80 laps in the same time. At the end of the morning session, he had a gearbox problem and had to stop the RB18 on track to cause the first red flag of this season.

Daniel Ricciardo topped the morning session for McLaren.

Afternoon Session

Zhou Guanyu had to wait to make his F1 debut, but he finally got a go at the wheel of the C42 this afternoon. The only rookie in the field this season, he at least has an incredibly experienced team mate to lean on in the form of Bottas. The Chinese driver was immediately going for a timed run and had a very strong afternoon.

Sebastian Vettel was the first to emerge into the afternoon sun. The Aston Martin driver had taken the reins for this session having sat out the morning in favour of his team mate.

Alfa Romeo are on the back foot. With a new generation of car, something that's so different - mileage is key, and that's been shown by all the other teams experiencing issues such as porpoising,

24 ZHOU Guanyu (chi), Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42, action during the pre-season track session prior the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship, on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, from February 23 to 25, 2022 in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain - Photo Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

Williams were having a very productive day on track. Alex Albon completed 47 laps this morning and registered the fourth fastest time of the session. Nicolas Latifi drove the afternoon session and gathered good data for the team.

Nikita Mazepin caused the second red flag when the Haas broke down after just nine laps, with a damaged fuel pump in the second sector. The car was recovered quickly and 15 minutes later the session was restarted.

Halfway the afternoon it was Alpine driver Esteban Ocon who was the first to get a 100 laps under his belt. Ocon was closely followed by his fellow Frenchman Gasly who hit the 100 laps 3 minutes later.

Perez only had only 90 minutes left in this session, when the RB18 finally was ready to go again after the gearbox failure at the end of the morning session.

So a second solid day of running for most teams, with a huge number of laps laid down. Three of the four drivers who had the cockpit all day went into three figures, with only Perez missing out due to mechanical woes cutting his running short in the middle of the day.

Much has been made of the weather forecast for tomorrow - which earlier this week looked like being wet. As it stands, the worst of the weather looks to have moved to Saturday, so there looks to be a very decent chance of some significant running tomorrow.

Quickest Lap Times 2nd day of testing

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