Red Bull tops second day of final pre-season test amid more trouble for McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo posted the fastest time of Formula 1 winter testing on day two of the second pre-season test. His time of 1min18.047sec – an unofficial lap record – was set on hypersoft tyres, and the Red Bull driver completed the highest number of laps through the day with 165.

The ultrasoft-shod Mercedes pair – Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas – finished second and third fastest, respectively. Hamilton’s time of 1min18.400sec was enough to beat his team-mate’s effort by 0.160sec. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth after 66 laps and a fastest time of 1min19.541sec, albeit on soft tyres.

There was trouble once again for McLaren as Fernando Alonso’s car broke down with a suspected oil leak two hours into the session, compounding the team’s troubles after reliability issues on Tuesday. Alonso completed only 54 laps but finished sixth with a time of 1min19.856sec on hypersofts, ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr.

In contrast, Toro Rosso had another strong session as Brendon Hartley jumped into fifth with a late effort of 1min19.823sec on hypersofts. His Honda-powered STR13 finished 119 laps on Wednesday.

Alonso emerged six and a half hours later, only for the session to be shortly halted for a red flag caused by Charles Leclerc who spun off at Turn 12 with minutes of the test remaining. The Sauber rookie finished the session 13th with 160 laps under his belt in a strong session for the team, regardless of his late off.

The session, which went without a lunch break, was extended by a few minutes after Leclerc’s spin, leaving time only for practice starts.