Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time around the Barcelona circuit on the second day of the final Formula 1 pre-season test.
With the exception of the drivers who only appeared in the afternoon, most focused on performances run in the morning before switching to race simulations, later in the day. That meant Ricciardo's 1m18.047s remained unbeaten as the rest of the day was dominated by long runs.
Ricciardo's effort usurped Felipe Massa's time from 2008. Massa previously held the time for the fastest lap of this configuration at the Spanish Grand Prix circuit. The Red Bull driver used the new hypersoft tyres for the first time to overhaul Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes. Hamilton ended up 0.353sec adrift on a 1m18.400s on Pirelli's ultrasoft compound, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas taking over for the afternoon and lapping a further 0.160sec slower on hypersofts.
Ferrari rejigged its plan and ran Kimi Raikkonen only in the afternoon because the Finn was unwell; so Sebastian Vettel had an unexpected extra morning in the SF71H. He posted the fourth-best time of 1.494sec off the pace on soft tyres, and concentrated mainly on long runs. Raikkonen only made it as high up as eighth on the leaderboard when he emerged, and added just 49 laps to Vettel's tally of 66, in the process.
Behind Vettel came Brendon Hartley, who improved late on a mixed day in which he had a spin and a stoppage at the pit-lane exit but still completed 118 laps. Toro Rosso driver Hartley posted a 1m19.823s on hypersofts to vault up the order in the closing stages. Honda was given another boost as its old partner McLaren suffered another miserable day.
Fernando Alonso was quickest for part of the morning during a very productive opening two hours. He racked up 47 laps and set a 1m19.856s time on hypersoft tyres; but then he slowed to a halt on the run to Turn 7 after his Renault-powered MCL33 suffered an oil leak. An engine change consigned Alonso to the garage for six and a half hours, though he emerged in the final 15 minutes to take his final tally to 57 laps.
Alonso ended up a couple of tenths quicker than the works Renault of Carlos Sainz Jr, who completed 88 laps over the first four hours before handing the RS18 to Nico Hulkenberg. His team-mate was 0.8sec slower, as he focused on longer runs to rack up an even more impressive tally of 102 laps, making Renault the day's most productive team. Those two were split by Romain Grosjean's Haas, Raikkonen and Lance Stroll – a trio covered by barely a tenth of a second.
Williams, Force India and Sauber did not make an impact on the leaderboard, although Sauber's Charles Leclerc did bring the meaningful running to an early end when beached his car into the gravel at Turn 12. The test did resume briefly once it was cleared, but only to complete more FIA-mandated practice starts.
Test two, day two times
Unnatee Gidithuri
