Formula 1

Jerez pre-season test day 2 – Vettel continues on top

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Sebastian Vettel continued his reign of the top of the timing screens during the opening pre-season test at Jerez as the new Scuderia Ferrari driver ended day two with the fastest time.

The German completed 89 laps of the Spanish circuit, and was the only driver to dip beneath 1m21s, his best time of 1m20.984s beating Sauber driver Felipe Nasr by 0.883s.

Nasr ensured the Ferrari-powered Sauber F1 Team finished second fastest for the second day running, completing untroubled 88 laps of the Jerez circuit. Third place on the day went to the Williams Martini Racing machine of Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn completing 61 laps.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest for Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS, who once again completed the most amount of laps on the day with 91 with their new F1 W06 Hybrid car, but his running was curtailed early with a water leak.

Seventeen-year-old Max Verstappen took over the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR10 from Carlos Sainz Jr for day two, and his first test as a fully-fledged Formula 1 driver, and was fifth fastest, completing 73 laps.

Day two saw the first appearance of the new Lotus-Mercedes E23, with Pastor Maldonado taking to the track earlier in the day than the team had been expecting. He completed 41 laps but was the cause of the only red flag period of the day when he came to a halt with a drivetrain issue in the final sector of the track.

However, it was another troubled day for the McLaren-Honda partnership. After Fernando Alonso managed only six laps on the opening day on Sunday, Jenson Button took over for day two, but only managed six laps on his own, and like Alonso, only one of them timed.

At least he completed a timed lap. Daniil Kvyat started his Red Bull Racing career in calamitous fashion, breaking his front wing on his opening lap in the RB11. With Red Bull only bringing one wing to the circuit, the team sent him out during the day for a number of laps without a front wing, with the Russian completing 18 laps in total.

The last hour of the scheduled running was done with a wet track, after rain hit the circuit, with only Vettel, Nasr, Verstappen and Button venturing out before the chequered flag fell.

Nasr (top left), Bottas (top right) and Hamilton (bottom left) finished P2-P4, while Maldonado debuted the Lotus (all photos Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd)

Nasr (top left), Bottas (top right) and Hamilton (bottom left) finished P2-P4, while Maldonado debuted the Lotus (all photos Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd)

Jerez Pre-Season Test Day 2 Times

POS NO. DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari 1m20.984s 89
2 12 Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.867s 88
3 77 Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m22.319s 61
4 44 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1m22.490s 91
5 33 Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault 1m24.167s 73
6 13 Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 1m25.802s 41
7 22 Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m54.655s 6
8 26 Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault No Time 18
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