Raikkonen fastest on the second day in Barcelona

Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time on the second day of Barcelona’s first preseason test using the softest Pirelli tyres, but also caused the first red flag on this year’s tests when stopped due to a technical problem while Mercedes tried out an innovative steering system called DAS .

Raikkonen set his best time 1:17.091 in his Alfa C39, less than an hour before the end of the day, a tenth slower than Hamilton on day one, on the softest C5 Pirelli tyres, and second was Perez in Racing Point, which was the fastest in the morning.

But the story of the day is definitely Mercedes’ innovative DAS (Dual Axis Steering) system, which was revealed on onboard shots where Hamilton was pulling his steering wheel in depth, thereby affecting the inward and outward tilting of the wheel, looked from above (toe in / toe out). In the afternoon, the system was also used by Bottas.

The half-day media conference also included Hamilton and Mercedes technical director Allison, who said the FIA ​​had been familiar with the system for a long time and expects it to be declared legal.

Perez did not improve his time from the morning and remained second fastest, two tenths behind Raikkonen, and Ricciardo was third fastest for Renault, also on the C3 tyres as Perez, with only 41 laps, the least of all drivers.

Ocon finished the penultimate, 12th fastest, when it took R.S.20 from Ricciardo in the afternoon, but drove a worthy 52 laps for Renault, which today completed 93 laps in total, still the least of all teams.

Albon was fourth fastest for Red Bull in his first appearance for RB16, and Gasly was fifth fastest for AlphaTauri with 147 laps, the highest tally of all drivers.

Vettel missed the first day due to illness testing but returned to action this afternoon and completed 73 laps in the new Ferrari SF1000 finishing sixth while Leclerc was eighth and added 49 more laps for a total of 122 laps for the Italian team.

Hamilton was ninth for Mercedes, and Bottas was last, 13th fastest. But Hamilton drove the most laps from all drivers in the morning (106) while Bottas added 77 more laps for the F1 W11, which puts Mercedes at the top of the ranking when it comes to lap count (183), even though Bottas spent the last hour in the garage because of electrical problems.

Norris drove 137 laps in his McLaren MCL35 and finished 10th fastest on C2 tyres while Grosjean was 11th fastest for Haas, 1.4 s behind the fastest Raikkonen.

DAY 2 RESULTS