Private Testing – Austria – Day 2: Rosberg in the Spotlight

Unlike yesterday, today’s practice session went off without a hitch. On one hand, there were no incidents on the track to report, and on the other hand, the weather was much more forgiving this time. Each team was able to drive a lot more and thus test new parts on the cars.

The recent winner of the Austrian Grand Prix spared no effort to achieve the best time of the day. The Mercedes W06, equipped with sensors on its front wing, completed a total of 110 laps, just like its runner-up of the day, Esteban Gutierrez, Ferrari’s third driver. The latter finished quite far behind Rosberg – over eight-tenths – but just ahead of Valtteri Bottas for Williams, who remained the leader until mid-afternoon.

The team that completed the most laps during these two days is undoubtedly Toro Rosso. Verstappen did 97 laps the day before, while today, Marco Wittman completed 158 laps. He is 4th in the standings tonight.

Back in line, Pascal Wehrlein achieved the 5th fastest time for Force India, just over a second behind the car he was in yesterday. It is also noteworthy that the team wanted to test a new nose. Meanwhile, Alonso’s McLaren, 7th at the end of the day, retained the wing he had to test during free practice last Friday. According to a tweet from the Woking team, they took this opportunity to evaluate the entire aerodynamic aspect of the car. In strict continuity with previous sessions, therefore.

The end of the day was marked by two rather brief red flags. First, around 5:15 PM, Ricciardo came to a stop just before the pit lane; he would end up second to last, ahead of Felipe Nasr’s Sauber. Then, shortly before 6 PM, Jolyon Palmer, Romain Grosjean’s replacement at Lotus during the first free practice sessions of each Grand Prix weekend, stopped on the track. Right after improving his time; he ended up 6th.