Robert Kubica’s morning benchmark remained unbeaten as he topped the timesheets on Day 1 of the second test in Spain.
The Alfa Romeo reserve driver completed a run on Pirelli’s C5 tyres, setting a time of 1m16.942s in the final hour before lunch to set what was the second fastest time of pre-season so far.
Quickest of the afternoon runners was Max Verstappen for Red Bull in second, four-tenths down on the Polish driver using the C3 compound.
It was an eventful four hours for the Dutchman who spun twice, including five minutes from the end causing an early chequered flag, but also managed a strong 84 laps.
Mercedes was once again the busiest team, with Valtteri Bottas adding 90 laps to Lewis Hamilton’s 89 from the morning.
There were no headline-grabbing lap times this time, however, as the world champion slipped to seventh in the final standings with his teammate ninth.
Racing Point continue to shine this pre-season with Sergio Perez third, but still flying under the radar is AlphaTauri after Daniil Kvyat was an impressive fourth using the C2 tyre, just ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly in fifth.
It was another subdued day for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel claimed 10th and Charles Leclerc 13th, but there was plenty of laps as a combined 164 left the Italian only second to Mercedes on that stat.
Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz squeezed between the two Prancing Horse’s in 11th and 12th, while the two Williams drivers ended 14th and 15th.
There was some relief too as George Russell was able to complete a solid 59 laps in the afternoon, this after the team had checked over the car following an engine issue for teammate Nicholas Latifi in the morning.
Full times and lap counts can be seen below:
