Categories: FeatureFeatures

The second test in numbers

Following a two-week break, as expected the second pre-season test saw increased mileage and reliability for all the teams to a greater or lesser extent.

Long runs allowed a glimpse of the competitive order, while tyre choices impacted on the final standings in terms of headline lap times at the end of each day. Mercedes looked ominously strong with its best time coming on the medium compound tyre compared to the supersoft laps of the two Lotus drivers either side of Nico Rosberg in the overall times.

There was encouraging mileage and pace from Red Bull, however, with race simulations possible for both Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat and quick times on the soft tyre.

The usual warning about reading too much in to lap times is highlighted by the gap between Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen across the test. Vettel was fastest on both of his days in the SF15-T at Jerez but was 1.8s slower than Raikkonen at Barcelona despite both running the soft tyre.

The final pre-season test gets underway on Thursday at the Circuit de Catalunya, with Force India hoping to run its 2015 car for the first time having used last year's car during the second test.

Tyre compound key: (ss) = supersoft, (s) = soft, (m) = medium, (h) = hard, (p) = prototype, (i) = intermediate, (w) = wet

Pos Driver Team Time (tyre) Lap
1 R. Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1:24.067 (ss) 111
2 N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.321 (m) 197
3 P. Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1:24.348 (ss) 173
4 D. Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1:24.574 (s) 202
5 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:24.584 (s) 164
6 F. Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:24.672 (s) 143
7 S. Pérez Force India-Mercedes 1:24.702 (ss) 155
8 M. Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1:24.739 (ss) 223
9 L. Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.923 (m) 201
10 D. Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1:24.941 (s) 216
11 F. Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.956 (ss) 152
12 V. Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:25.345 (s) 178
13 C. Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 1:25:604 (ss) 188
14 F. Alonso McLaren-Honda 1:25.961 (s) 79
15 J. Palmer Lotus-Mercedes 1:26.280 (s) 77
16 S. Vettel Ferrari 1:26.312 (s) 181
17 M. Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.340 (s) 166
18 N. Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:26.591 (s) 36
19 P. Wehrlein Force India-Mercedes 1:27.333 (m) 113
20 J. Button McLaren-Honda 1:28.182 (m) 45
21 P. Wehrlein Mercedes 1:28.489 (h) 48
22 S. Wolff Williams-Mercedes 1:28.906 (m) 86

Once again it was Mercedes which finished the test with the most mileage of all the teams present, but Red Bull showed a big step forward in terms of reliability to go from the second lowest total of laps at the first test to the second highest at Barcelona.

McLaren again struggled for mileage but did show a best time that was much more representative compared to at Jerez.

Pos Team Best time Laps
1 Mercedes 1:24.321 446
2 Red Bull-Renault 1:24.574 418
3 Toro Rosso-Renault 1:24.739 411
4 Williams-Mercedes 1:24.672 407
5 Lotus-Mercedes 1:24.067 361
6 Ferrari 1:24.584 345
7 Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.956 318
8 Force India-Mercedes 1:24.702 304
9 McLaren-Honda 1:25.961 124

And one more table for you, with the total number of laps completed by each team so far across the opening two tests at Jerez and Barcelona.

Pos Team Laps
1 Mercedes 962
2 Toro Rosso-Renault 764
3 Sauber-Ferrari 700
4 Ferrari 694
5 Williams-Mercedes 685
6 Red Bull-Renault 584
7 Lotus-Mercedes 551
8 Force India-Mercedes 304
9 McLaren-Honda 203

Click here for the gallery from day four of the second test

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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