Magny-Cours – Day 2: Bianchi also at ease with Force India

It is under a cloudy sky with barely any sunlight breaking through, and with much cooler temperatures than the previous day, that the Young Driver Tests resumed this Wednesday at Magny-Cours.

After the F2012 on Tuesday, Jules Bianchi took the wheel of the Force India VJM05 today. At Ferrari, Davide Rigon is stepping in: the Italian will be driving the Ferrari for the first time in conditions other than during promotional events or straight-line tests. At Mercedes, Sam Bird is taking the wheel of the Mercedes F1 W03 again, with the goal of seeking performance.

And the Brit quickly improved his time, swiftly beating his best from the previous day and setting a lap of 1:17.482 before the break. As for Jules Bianchi, he took his time before starting his timed laps but was quick to make an impression once he crossed the timing line. The Frenchman thus topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:16.467, beating his best time from the previous day by almost 6 tenths, driving the F2012.

Davide Rigon, for his part, made progress throughout the day, posting a time of 1:17.925. The Italian showed consistency as well as impressive endurance, completing 165 laps, which is nearly 725 kilometers. Sam Bird and Jules Bianchi were not far behind, with the two drivers completing 125 and 117 laps respectively.

Note the presence of Michael Schumacher, who stayed for a few hours in the Mercedes garage, undoubtedly to get a feel for the new developments introduced this week by the German team, which must have been satisfied with its tests, as unlike Force India and Ferrari, it did not request an extension of the session. Indeed, the session was initially scheduled to end at 5:00 PM, but the Indian team and its Italian counterpart requested an extension until 6 PM.

In the end, no red flags disrupted today’s session, and the rain only appeared occasionally and lightly on the Nivernais circuit.

Ranking of the second day of the Young Driver Tests at Magny-Cours 2012: