F1: 2-day testing in Spain

The Formula 1 world championship has scheduled two testing days, that took place after the Spain Gran Prix. Same circuit, same conditions, lots of test drivers and lots of upgrades.

As expected, Mercedes mastered the first session by the hands of the winner of the Catalan round, Nico Rosberg. He placed himself in the first spot of the ranking, both for time and run distance, managing to string 146 laps. His result of 1:24.374 was set running on unmarked tires, used by Pirelli for assessing new compositions, which will be used later in the season.

Over two seconds behind, we find Marcus Ericsson, while the Ferrari Driver Acadamy, Raffaele Marciello, finished in the 3^rd spot. The Italian ran 125 laps behind the wheel of the SF15T racing car, testing various aerodynamics solutions and prototype tires. In the 4^th place, there came Daniil Kvyat, three tenths of a second behind, as he was followed, another four tenths, by Pastor Maldonado.

The surprise of the day was Nick Yelloly pop out.. The GP2 driver was called at the last moment, to take Pascal Wehrlein, who came down with a flu. Yelloly strang 109 laps in his Force India car and finished the session in the 6^th position, ahead of his GP2 colleague, Pierre Gasly. The Red Bull proteje tested for 131 laps for Torro Rosso, setting a 3,2-second milestone, behind Rosberg. Due to some technical malfunctions, Felipe Massa only covered 54 laps and was the next to the last by the end of the day. In the last spot, there came Oliver Turvey, the test driver from McLaren.

The second day

Wednesday was the time for Lotus to shine. 18 minutes ahead of the final of the session, Jolyon Palmer knocked off Wehrlein from the last spot and set the standard of the day – 1:26.080. The GP2 champion took advantage of the supersoft tires, coming four tenths of a second ahead of the second place.

Wehrlein was the hero of the day. Anguished by muscular pain and fever, the 20-year old driver covered 137 laps, the longest distance in the entire peloton. The podium was rounded up by Pierre Gasly, as the French is passing from Torro Rosso to Red Bull. After a day which was a bit better for McLaren, Button finished 4^th, by the end of 100 laps. It seems that the Brit managed to find a way out of the serious setup malfunctions of his racing car, that have severly damaged his race in Spain.

Alex Lynn is making his debut behind the wheel of the Williams car and finishes 5^th, nine tenth of a second behind Palmer. The time he spent on the racetrack was restricted down to 52 laps, due to technical issues. At the debut chapter, we can also tick Esteban Ocon, the 18-year old young driver from Lotus. The French finished 6^th, 1.4 seconds behind Palmer.

Ferrari is not enjoying a great day, as Gutierrez finishes in the 7^th spot on his F1 comeback, while Marciello went out the racetrack in the beginning of the session. Despite damaging the front end of his racing car, Lello managed to come back, but he finished last, almost 3 seconds away from the leader.

First day ranking:

Second day ranking: