Bottas puts Mercedes on top mid-day in Barcelona

© XPB 

Icy cold conditions on Tuesday morning led to limited mileage for teams and drivers on the second day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Few ventured out at the outset when the lights went green at 9:00am, or if they did it was for the odd installation lap only.

In order to make the most of the day however, teams agreed to extend the session by an hour, scrapping the scheduled one-hour lunch break as a result.

Mid-day, Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas had recorded the fastest lap on Pirelli's soft tyre, clocking in with a 1:20.270 which put him 0.055 seconds clear of second-place man Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren MCL33 running on the ultra-soft compound.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third on the timesheet, putting 35 laps under his belt and edging out Renault's Carlos Sainz in P4.

Further down the order, Sergey Sirotkin followed in fifth as he conducted more data acquisition for Williams, and before handing over the FW41 to Robert Kubica.

Esteban Ocon was sixth for Force India in his first day behind the wheel of the team's new VJM11, while Pierre Gasly enjoyed a trouble-free run for Sauber.

Haas' Kevin Magnussen completed just six laps, but a mechanical issue in the form of a fuel leak prevented Max Verstappen from taking lapping more than three times the Circuit de Catalunya.

Testing continues this afternoon in slightly less freezing conditions but with an overcast sky which could spell rain sometime in the next few hours.

You can follow the session live here.

Pre-season test Day 2 - Midday

PosDriverTeamTimeLapsTyre
1 Bottas Mercedes1:20.27043S
2 Vandoorne McLaren1:20.32528HS
3 Vettel Ferrari1:21.34135M
4 Sainz Renault1:22.42417S
5 Sirotkin Williams1:22.84431S
6 Ocon Force India1:22.90720S
7 Gasly Toro Rosso1:24.48831S
8 Leclerc Sauber1:24.94552S
9 Magnussen Haas1:42.2766S
10 Verstappen Red BullNo time3M

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