Barcelona Testing 1 – Day 2: Hülkenberg Fastest Time

Nico Hülkenberg set the fastest time on this second day of testing in Barcelona. The Force India driver was ahead of Sergio Perez in the C31 and Sebastian Vettel in his RB8. With a 1:22.608, Hülkenberg bettered the fastest time set by Vettel yesterday at 1:23.265 – the Red Bull driver still managed to improve today with a lap time of 1:22.891.

Hülkenberg and Perez were able to get ahead of the Red Bull thanks to the tests conducted by their respective teams. Indeed, during their best laps, both men were on Super-Soft tires, unlike Vettel. Behind these three men, we find Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso, Hamilton’s McLaren, Rosberg’s Mercedes, and the Williams driven by Valtteri Bottas. Bringing up the rear are Petrov in his Caterham and Charles Pic behind the wheel of the 2011 Marussia.

The day was mild from a weather point of view, and some teams were able to carry out race simulations—this was especially true for Red Bull and McLaren. This explains why the drivers were very diligent on the track today. Five of them—Hülkenberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, and Pic—finished the day with more than 100 laps completed.

On the problems side, Daniel Ricciardo suffered a driveshaft failure – which ended his day. Sergio Perez also experienced issues with his C31 – with the exhausts, but it did not prevent him from putting in a lot of laps. The Mercedes F1 W03, driven by Nico Rosberg, also had to stop prematurely due to an oil leak.

Also missing was the Lotus F1 team, which decided yesterday not to take part in the final days of this second private testing session held at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Today was also an opportunity for several drivers to test their teams’ 2012 cars for the first time – notably, Williams’ test and reserve driver Valtteri Bottas completed 117 laps behind the wheel of the FW34. Meanwhile, Vitaly Petrov was discovering the Caterham CT01 and was able to complete 69 laps.

Tomorrow, several drivers will hand over their seats to their teammates – with Vettel replaced by Webber, Alonso by Massa, Hamilton by Button, and Ricciardo by Vergne.

Private Testing in Barcelona – Day 2