Charles Leclerc kept the Ferrari hype very much intact by going fastest on Day 2 of the Barcelona pre-season test.
The Monegasque displaced Daniel Ricciardo, who had been quickest in the morning session in Spain, with around 75 minutes left in the day.
In the final half an hour, Pierre Gasly bolted on the C4 tyre compound which Lando Norris had used to go fastest on Wednesday, but could only manage second after traffic in the final sector.
The AlphaTauri driver did manage the most laps for a single driver though with 147.
Leclerc then secured P1 by improving again and setting the best time of the day, a 1m19.689s on the C3 tyres. Ricciardo’s morning best was good enough for third in the McLaren.
George Russell sat fourth for Mercedes after a smoother afternoon than teammate Lewis Hamilton had, perhaps literally as the seven-time world champion managed just 40 laps and was slowest overall on the day as the team tried to solve porpoising issues.
This is a new problem with the 2022 cars and sees the car bounce at high speeds on the straight as a result of the ground effect downforce stalling under the floor.
All teams have discovered this issue from the original ground effect era albeit to differing levels, as noted by the video of Leclerc’s Ferrari below:
Bumpy road to the top for Charles Leclerc! ?#F1 pic.twitter.com/Z6a5e6d3bo
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 24, 2022
Carlos Sainz backed up the Scuderia’s strong pace in fifth, with Ferrari also the only team to reach 150 laps for the second straight day.
Sebastian Vettel had another solid day in sixth for Aston Martin, ahead of Sergio Perez, who made his first appearance for Red Bull in Barcelona.
The Mexican had a steady morning before causing the first red flag of the test due to a gearbox issue half an hour before lunch.
By the end of the day, Checo had managed 78 laps, just over half his teammate’s figure of 147 on Wednesday.
Nikita Mazepin was eighth in the Haas after causing the second red flag of the day with a fuel pump problem.
His time was just 0.019s quicker than Alex Albon in the Williams, who enjoyed a four-tenth advantage over teammate Nicholas Latifi in 11th.
Guanyu Zhou made his debut for Alfa Romeo in 10th, clocking 71 laps, 50 more than teammate Valtteri Bottas had managed in the morning.
Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher were 12th and 13th, ahead of Esteban Ocon in a lowly 14th for Alpine, albeit with a solid 125 laps to his name.
Former teammates Bottas and Hamilton completed the standings, which can be seen below:
