Ocon leads final morning of Silverstone F1 test

Esteban Ocon put Mercedes on top for the final morning of Formula 1 in-season testing at Silverstone, leading Ferrari regular Kimi Raikkonen by over a second-and-a-half.

Esteban Ocon, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid Test Driver

Jolyon Palmer, Renault Sport F1 Team RS16

Santino Ferrucci, Haas F1 Team VF-16 Development Driver

Nikita Mazepin, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09 Development Driver

Mercedes development driver Ocon, on his second day of running in the Mercedes W07, led the way for much of the first hour, but was eclipsed by Renault's Jolyon Palmer just after the 40-minute mark.

Raikkonen took over as the day's fastest man just as the second hour started, becoming the first driver to dip beneath the 1m34s, but was soon beaten by first Palmer and then Ocon, as the Frenchman returned to the track using soft compound tyres.

Ocon opened up a big lead over the rest with a time of 1m31.664s, which he improved first to a 1m31.461s and then a 1m31.212s in the final half hour to lead when the chequered flag was shown.

Raikkonen went out towards the end of the third hour to depose Palmer for second, setting a time 1.516s away from Ocon's benchmark, which was fractionally slower than the pace set by Fernando Alonso on Tuesday with supersoft tyres.

Palmer hung on to third place until the final minutes, when he was demoted one place by Pierre Gasly. The Red Bull protege set a best time 2.192s shy of countryman Ocon, and just 0.066s clear of Palmer.

Stoffel Vandoorne, who was taking over the McLaren from Alonso, was just a further 0.003s back in fifth.

On his second day of F1 running, Santino Ferrucci was sixth fastest for Haas, beating fellow novice Nikita Mazepin (Force India) and Sergio Sette Camara (Toro Rosso), the Brazilian driving a grand prix car for the first time on Wednesday.

Sette Camara did however suffer a half-spin at Club with just over an hour remaining, the only incident in an otherwise uneventful three-and-a-half hours of running.

Completing the timesheets were Pascal Wehrlein, who set the most laps of the morning (61) in the 2014-spec Mercedes equipped with prototype 2017 Pirelli tyres, Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Jordan King (Manor).

Day 2 morning times:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Esteban Ocon	Mercedes	1:31.212
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:32.730	1.518
3	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull	1:33.404	2.192
4	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:33.470	2.258
5	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:33.473	2.261
6	Santino Ferrucci	Haas	1:33.934	2.722
7	Nikita Mazepin	Force India	1:34.553	3.341
8	Sergio Sette Camara	Toro Rosso	1:35.002	3.790
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Mercedes	1:36.182	4.970
10	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:36.280	5.068
11	Jordan King	Manor	1:37.417	6.205