Breaking News

2022 F1 Testing Day Two Report | Hamilton slowest, low mileage for Red Bull

2022 F1 Testing Day Two Report | Hamilton slowest, low mileage for Red Bull

24-02-2022 17:00 Last update: 17:09
7
Author profile picture

Matt Gretton

Editor-in-Chief

The second day of testing has come to an end with McLaren and Ferrari being the two biggest winners of the day. Charles Leclerc recorded the fast time with a 1:19.689 on the C3 tyres. Pierre Gasly was one-tenth behind and topped the lap count for a single driver with over 140 laps. McLaren and Ferrari exchanged places at the top of the leaderboard throughout, with Leclerc eventually setting the final fastest time in the afternoon. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top three. 

Pierre Gasly managed to split the two teams in the afternoon with a sub-1:19 time, but Gasly used a softer tyre. It was a disappointing day for Red Bull and Sergio Perez who caused the first red flag of the season in Barcelona. Lewis Hamilton finished last on the timesheet. 

Winners 

McLaren and Ferrari are looking like the two strongest teams at this stage of testing. On day one, Lando Norris secured P1 and on day two his teammate Daniel Ricciardo spent a significant amount of time at the top of the leaderboard. Both teams also managed to get through the day without serious issues. In total, they both recorded over 100 laps of the circuit in Barcelona. 

Pierre Gasly had the full day inside the AlphaTauri car and he recorded over 140 laps. The Frenchman used the softer C4 tyres in the final hour of the day and started to set faster times. Aston Martin and Williams also had a strong afternoon session with Sebastian Vettel and Alex Albon respectively managing to reach the top ten in the standings. 

It was also a good day for Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou. The rookie driver got his first taste of the car in the afternoon session and recorded over 60 laps. Much needed mileage after some niggles further compounded the problems caused yesterday. Haas, who also had trouble with reliability issues yesterday, managed to improve on the lap counter. Though they did cause a red flag because of an on-track stoppage. 

Losers

Alpine racked up the mileage but wasn't quick. Esteban Ocon sat at the bottom of the speed trap recordings from the morning session and didn't opt to use DRS. It seems as if Alpine were struggling from porpoising more than other teams. Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton only managed the 15th fastest time. George Russell climbed into the Mercedes in the afternoon and managed to record some faster runs finishing fourth on the leaderboard. 

Red Bull Racing caused the first red flag stoppage of the day. Just before lunch, Sergio Perez stopped on the circuit with a gearbox issue. The Red Bull Racing car remained in the pits for a couple of hours after lunch but the Mexican did manage some running in the afternoon. Perez will not drive the car again, with Verstappen scheduled to have the full day of running tomorrow. 

Porpoising seems to be an issue for most teams on the circuit. This is something that naturally comes with ground effect. The cars bounce around when the airflow underneath is disturbed. It's about getting the right tune between the floor and the front wing, so the airflow doesn't detach. 

What's to come?

There is one more day of testing to complete before the teams have a couple of weeks off. In early March, teams will travel to Bahrain for three more days of testing ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. But before then, a rain test will be carried out on Friday in Barcelona. This will be artificial if required, but rain is in the forecast. This is so that Pirelli can check the performance of the wet tyres. 

There is a meeting this evening between teams to discuss the future of the 2022 Russian Grand Prix. There are calls to cancel the event from Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen following the news of conflict in Ukraine.