Sebastian Vettel ensured Ferrari outpaced Mercedes and Red Bull as F1’s second winter test got off to a competitive start at Barcelona.
Vettel topped the timesheet for the second time this winter with a 1:20.396 on the medium tyres to be two tenths of a second clear of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas – whose best lap came on softs – and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, also on the mediums.
“It was a good day’s work,” said Vettel. “We managed to get through our programme, even if the conditions weren’t always ideal.”
Lewis Hamilton drove in the afternoon and was fourth, 0.412s off Vettel’s morning pace, on the soft tyres as F1’s ‘Big Three’ snared the leading places on the timesheet.
“I think it will be all three of us against each other,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports News in a mouth-watering prediction for 2018.
“We have a worst case and a best case. What we have seen is that even if it is best case we are not in front by a lot, and if it is a worst case we are not far behind.”
Mercedes expect three-way fight
F1 Testing: Fastest laps so far
F1 2018: Schedule and test dates
Fresh blows for McLaren
McLaren are hoping to push that trio this year but their winter lurched to a new low as their car broke down on three separate occasions.
Electrical problems twice stopped Stoffel Vandoorne early in the morning, once in the pits and once on track, before a hydraulics fault then ended McLaren’s day early.
Watch as McLaren's testing woes return with Stoffel Vandoorne breaking down twice in the opening 70 minutes of running
The team completed only 38 laps, the fewest in the field, on a day the leading teams they are hoping to challenge this year all notched up centuries.
But McLaren racing director Eric Boullier told Sky Sports: “There is absolutely no drama.
“This is just testing. We push the car to the limits and we try some various conditions and set-ups and things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Red Bull also stopped on track in the afternoon session due to a battery failure but Verstappen was able to return to the track and topped 120 laps.
“The most important thing was to get a lot of laps and see how the car was behaving,” said Verstappen. “We managed to do that.”
How to follow Test Two on Sky F1
| Wednesday March 7 | Sky F1 digital live blog, SSN updates | 9pm: Paddock Uncut | 9:15pm: Ted’s Notebook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday March 8 | Sky F1 digital live blog, SSN updates | 9pm: Paddock Uncut | 9:15pm: Ted’s Notebook |
| Friday March 9 | Sky F1 digital live blog, SSN updates | 9pm: Paddock Uncut | 9:15pm: Ted’s Notebook |
To increase the pain for McLaren, Toro Rosso again caught the eye with their new Honda engines during the morning session and Pierre Gasly posted the fifth-quickest time.
The Frenchman’s 1:20.973 was Toro Rosso’s best of pre-season testing so far, while his 54 laps took the team past 375 laps for the winter.
However, only two of those laps came in the afternoon as the screens went across the team’s garage as they worked to resolve a brake system problem.
Get up close and watch all the action from the pit-lane on the first day of the second pre-season test in Barcelona
Kevin Magnussen also offered more encouragement to Haas by posting the sixth-fastest time of the day and running within a second of Vettel’s benchmark.
The Dane was narrowly ahead of Renault pair Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz, who again shared the RS18, plus Sergey Sirotkin’s Williams, with just two tenths splitting the quartet.
Marcus Ericsson completed 118 laps in his Sauber and was 11th-fastest, but Force India had another low-key outing, although Sergio Perez completed lots of afternoon laps to end the day with 92 on the board. However, the Mexican was only 10th and had a morning trip through the gravel.
Sky Sports F1 is the only place to watch every Formula 1 Grand Prix, qualifying and practice session live in 2018. Get Sky Sports F1.
Also See:
Sourse: skysports.com
