Barcelona F1 test: Verstappen quickest on second morning

The Dutchman, returning to the cockpit of his F1 car for the first time since his Spanish Grand Prix triumph, completed a mixture of medium and soft tyre runs.

But it was on a soft tyre run an hour before the lunch break that Verstappen delivered his best time of the day so far.

His 1m23.267s lap was just shy of Sebastian Vettel's best effort from a qualifying simulation on Tuesday, and only two tenths slower than he had managed himself on Saturday in Barcelona.

More encouraging than the time though was the fact that Verstappen's Red Bull was producing competitive figures through the speed traps, confirming the power progress that Renault appears to have made.

McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne was second fastest in the morning, with his best effort of 1m24.006s helped by using super soft tyres, just as teammate Jenson Button had done yesterday.

Vandoorne was completing a raft of aerodynamic and mechanical checks for his Woking-based outfit, which included running with some aero rakes early on.

Daniil Kvyat, having his first test for Toro Rosso since his shock switch there for the Spanish Grand Prix, ran the soft tyre to set the third fastest time of 1m24.737s.

The Russian's focus over the day was to get himself much more comfortable with his new car, having had little time to prepare for his first race back at Faenza last weekend.

Kevin Magnussen delivered further evidence of Renault progress to set the fourth fastest time on soft tyres, with a lap of 1m25.133s that was just three hundredths of a second quicker than Mercedes' Pascal Wehrlein who had been drafted in at the last minute.

Renault reserve Esteban Ocon had been due to test for Mercedes on the second day, but the Brackley-based team said that it had elected to evaluate new parts that required a more experienced driver in the car.

It means Ocon will have to wait until the in-season test at Silverstone to get his first taste of the Mercedes, although his compensation may be that he gets two days running there because neither Nico Rosberg nor Lewis Hamilton are eligible to take part.

Esteban Gutierrez continues Haas' set-up work to set the sixth fastest time, ahead of Ferrari young driver Antonio Fuoco, who was buoyed by his fan club erecting a huge banner that dominated the grandstand opposite the pits.

At Williams, Felipe Massa continued evaluating the radical double decker wing that appeared on Tuesday and is aimed at simulating 2017 downforce levels. His best time was 1m27.167s.

There was one red flag, 15 minutes before the lunch break, caused by Jordan King in the Manor running off the track at Turn 7 and bringing gravel back on to the circuit that needed to be cleared. 

Day 2 morning results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:23.267		65
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:24.006	+0.739	45
3	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:24.737	+1.470	68
4	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:25.133	+1.866	53
5	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes	1:25.166	+1.899	65
6	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:26.402	+3.135	41
7	Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari	1:26.403	+3.136	55
8	Alfonso Celis	Force India	1:26.855	+3.588	37
9	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:27.167	+3.900	59
10	Jordan King	Manor	1:27.615	+4.348	48