McLaren tops the timesheets, Vettel crashes on Day 2
- Shahmir Khan
- Feb 28, 2019
- 3 min read
Carlos Sainz set the fastest time of the day for McLaren for second consecutive day of pre-season test 2.
The Spaniard set the record time of the day with 1:17.144s very early in the morning, which looked to be unbeaten till the final hour.
Racing Point's Sergio Perez was only the second driver all day to dip under the 1:17 mark and close in on Carlos Sainz as he set a brilliant lap of 1:17.842 on a set of C4 tyres.
The last moment effort enabled the Mexican to dethrone Sebastian Vettel from second place after a disastrous incident due to a mechanical issue in the morning session made the Ferrari sit in for the rest of the day until final hour
The crash occurred at the exit of Turn 3 during a mechanical problem according to team while Vettel reported an issue in the front-left corner. The crash delayed the session for more than 30 minutes until the car was delicately evacuated from barriers, put onto the recovery trucks and the barriers were repaired.
"By the feeling, there was an issue with the front left corner," Vettel said.
"From there, there was nothing I could have done to avoid the impact.
"I wasn't in control anymore and went more or less straight into the barriers.
"We are flat out trying to understand.
"It would be a lot easier if there was a lot of run-off and the car didn't hit anything right after, because now as you can imagine it's fairly damaged because of the hit.
The team confirmed the car won't be on track for several hours of the day as the damage made it difficult for the squad to find the problem.
The car meanwhile, came out for a single lap with Charles Leclerc in final halfa-an-hour.
Kimi Raikkonen was 4th fastest, setting 1:18.209 and completing 113 laps. But the car stopped after the chequered flags at Turn 6 and brought out red flags as some cars were returning to pits.
Romain Grosjean was in fifth place, setting 1:18.330s in final hour, pushing Max Verstappen to fifth place.
The Dutchman set 1:18.395 on C3 tyres in morning session. The Red Bull didn't appear in most of the afternoon session until last half-an-hour with some running done by the Red Bull driver to get 128 laps done.
Daniil Kvyat was 7th, setting 1:18.682 on C3 tyres and completed 102 laps.
Next up were the two Mercedes drivers, completing 177 laps in total, with Bottas ahead of Hamilton in terms of laptimes. Lewis Hamilton had most laps completed for the Mercedes with 102 in total, being one of the seven drivers to cross the 100-lap mark.
Nico Hulkenberg completed Top 10, going for longer-runs but putting 1:19.056 later in the day after taking over from Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo was 12th fastest, behind Robert Kubica who put 130 laps and no flying lap to give the team feedback about the car.
And down in last place was Charles Leclerc, the Monegasque setting a single installation lap.
With half of the test week done and dusted, the teams are preparing for their final runs in next two days before kicking off the season in Australia in March.
Pre-Season Test 2 Day 2 Results
1. Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren F1 Team MCL34 1m 17.144s 130 laps 2. Sergio Perez Racing Point F1 Team RP19 1m 17.842s 88 laps 3. Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Ferrari SF90 1m 18.195s 40 laps* 4. Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing C38 1m 18.209s 113 laps 5. Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team VF-19 1m 18.330s 120 laps 6. Max Verstappen Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda RB15 1m 18.395s 128 laps 7. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda STR14 1m 18.682s 101 laps 8. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport W10 1m 18.941s 74 laps* 9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport W10 1m 18.943s 102 laps** 10. Nico Hulkenberg Renault F1 Team R.S.19 1m 19.056s 58 laps**
11. Robert Kubica Williams Racing FW42 1m 19.367s 130 laps 12. Daniel Ricciardo Renault F1 Team R.S.19 1m 22.597s 72 laps* 13. Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari SF90 No time set 1 lap**
*Morning session **Afternoon session
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