Barcelona Tests Day 2: Vettel Hits Even Harder

For the second day of this private testing session, all the teams were present except for HRT, which will unveil its car at the end of the week.

Mark Webber and his Red Bull set the new benchmark time on the first day, demonstrating flawless performance and reliability so far for Red Bull Renault.

The first half of the day was marked by numerous red flags due to KERS reliability issues (Pastor Maldonado) or mechanical problems (Paul di Resta and Jérôme d’Ambrosio).

But that didn’t stop the reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel, from getting within a few tenths of the time set by his teammate less than an hour into the session, before improving to clock a fast lap of 1:21.865, almost seven-tenths faster than the Australian on Tuesday. Vitaly Petrov, meanwhile, set the second fastest time of the morning, ahead of Felipe Massa and his Ferrari.

The afternoon is mostly devoted to long runs for most teams, while Sebastien Buemi starts gaining places in his Toro Rosso after making a series of pit stops. The Swiss driver will finish second, five-tenths behind Vettel, also surpassing the time set the day before by Mark Webber’s Red Bull. Toro Rosso’s good form seems to be real for the end of this pre-season. Hamilton will place his McLaren in fourth position, more than a second behind the leader, ahead of Massa. Rosberg, at the wheel of his Mercedes, finishes eighth after a trouble-free day spent working on the new aerodynamic package of the Silver Arrow.

The Red Bulls seem to be above the rest for this last private testing session, but their opponents have three days left to prove otherwise if they wish to showcase their performance level.

Results of the second day of private testing in Barcelona: