Leclerc puts his Ferrari on top of the timesheets on Day 2 in Barcelona

F1 Test, Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya

Following McLaren's benchmark on the opening day, it was Ferrari's turn on Day 2 in Barcelona with Charles Leclerc setting the pace with the Italian team's innovative F1-75. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó reports from the Barcelona paddock.

Despite the revolutionary new cars, teams and drivers continued where they left off yesterday by racking up a high mileage on the second day of the three-day Barcelona pre-season testing. The morning's session saw McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo top the timesheets, mimicking what his team mate Lando Norris did on the day before. The Perth-born driver set a time of 1m20.355s just ten minutes remaining in the morning session.

However, the Australian was unable to hold on to his position as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc eventually set the benchmark. On top of his his quick, the Monegasque completed a total of 79 laps in the afternoon. His team mate Carlos Sainz also had a productive morning by registering 71 laps in total, making Ferrari the team with the highest mileage on the second day of pre-season testing.

Red Bull had a difficult day after Max Verstappen racked up a staggering 147 laps on the opening day. The reigning world champion handed over his new challenger, the RB18 to his team mate Sergio Perez. The Mexican had a slow start to his day before coming to a hault thanks to a gearbox issue on his car with just half an hour in the morning session. The team needed a few hours to solve the problem, but the 31-year-old was able to continue his running later on. In the end, he finished up P7, completing over 70 laps.

The reigning world champion team divived the driving duties once again between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The seven-time world champion returned to the track this morning following his first outing with the W13 yesterday. The Briton lost a significant amount of time in the first hour of the morning, but managed to rack up a total of 40 laps.

His new team mate Russell had a much more productive day, racking up over 60 laps on his way to P4. The young Briton registered his best team of 1m20.537s on Pirelli’s C3 compound. The team worked with different aerodynamic solution today, trying out a new engine cover with cooling gills.

Alfa Romeo continued to struggle in Barcelona in terms of reliability with Valtteri Bottas completing only 21 laps. The Finn handed over his car to the Italian-Swiss outfit’s newcomer Zhou Guanyu. The Chinese driver finished P10 with a best time of 1m21.885s on Pirelli’s C3 compound. The former F2 top runner completed 71 laps in total in afternoon which was arguably a relief for his team following the early struggles.

Williams duo Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi ended up 9th and 11th respectively, while the Aston Martin pair Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll were 6th and 12th overall. Haas also divided the day into two halves with Nikita Mazepin driving in the morning and Mick Schumacher getting behind the wheel of the new car in the afternoon. The Russian ended up 8th fastest, 1.8s behind the pacesetter Leclerc with the German finishing P13.