Barcelona Test: Day Two


Day two of the final group test before the season begins next month completed earlier, and surprisingly it was Nico Hulkenberg who managed to edge out Fernando Alonso for the top spot on the timing sheets. Hulkenberg, driving the Williams FW32, was simulating qualifying runs and squeezed ahead of the Ferrari pilot early in the afternoon, meaning Nico’s lap was not bettered for much of the day.

Hulkenberg had completed some longer runs in the morning before changing to short runs after lunch. Most other drivers chose to run their programme the other way around, completing their race distance runs after the break. Alonso completed a race distance in the afternoon without major drama, although his day did come to a slightly early end after the Ferrari stopped on track with just minutes left to go on the clock.

Pedro De La Rosa and Vitantonio Liuzzi enjoyed good runs their respective Sauber C29 and Force India VJM03. De La Rosa managed the third best time of the day, again set on short runs in the morning. Liuzzi made a similar effort and was just behind his Spanish rival. Sebastian Vettel had a mixed afternoon, and although the German managed to topple team mate Mark Webber’s best time from yesterday, the RB6 did stop on track with a mechanical fault partway through a simulated race.

World champions Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton kept themselves to themselves for much of the day and did not run particularly low-fuel levels, instead choosing to run their cars with more weight and over longer distance stints. Schumacher finished his day in P7 while Hamilton was 0.463s behind in P8. Timo Glock was able to drive the Virgin VR-01 today after spare parts were flown in to repair the damage caused by Lucas Di Grassi yesterday. Glock managed to complete 52 laps but unfortunately did make any impression on the timing sheet. Jarno Trulli, driving the Lotus T127, ended his afternoon ahead of Glock in tenth and 0.418s the better.

Fernando Alonso was the busiest driver of the day, completing 134 laps while trying out a raft of new parts on the F10, including a shark-fin engine cover. Schumacher too was testing a variety of new components on the MGP-W01, while the quietest driver of the day was Glock.

Testing continues tomorrow for the third of four days, where Felipe Massa will takeover the Ferrari from Alonso, Adrian Sutil will be in the Force India, Jenson Button will return to the McLaren, Rosberg will return to the Mercedes, Kamui Kobayashi will pilot the Sauber, Sebastien Buemi will take control of the Scuderia Toro Rosso and Rubens Barrichello will be hoping to make it two fastest laps for Williams when he drives the FW32 for the remainder of the test.

Barcelona Test
Day Two

Lap Time
Fastest Time Set

Laps Set
Number Laps Completed

1. German FlagNico Hulkenberg Williams 1m20.614s 99 Laps
2. Spanish FlagFernando Alonso Ferrari 1m20.637s 134 Laps
3. Spanish FlagPedro De La Rosa Sauber 1m20.973s 114 Laps
4. Italian FlagVitantonio Liuzzi Force India 1m21.056s 90 Laps
5. German FlagSebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1m21.258s 125 Laps
6. Spanish FlagJaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m21.571s 104 Laps
7. German FlagMichael Schumacher Mercedes 1m21.689s 85 Laps
8. British FlagLewis Hamilton McLaren 1m22.152s 93 Laps
9. Polish FlagRobert Kubica Renault 1m24.912s 53 Laps
10. Italian FlagJarno Trulli Lotus 1m25.524s 70 Laps
11. German FlagTimo Glock Virgin Racing 1m25.942s 52 Laps

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