Ferrari dominated the timesheets on the second day of Barcelona testing with veteran McLaren pilot Pedro de la Rosa only able to get within four-tenths of a second of his team’s main rival.
Italian Luca Badoer managed to improve on his previous day’s fastest lap of 1:22.412, setting a new high score of 1:21.013 for the other teams to aim at. The weather, although damp, was less unpredictable than the previous day’s.
De la Rosa, who managed a fastest time of 1:21.374, easily held off Toyota’s Timo Glock who was two tenths of a second behind him on 1:21.573. Fourth was Williams’ Nico Rosberg with Red Bull’s David Coulthard fifth.
McLaren said that it had spent the day moving closer to signing off new aerodynamic components for the French and British Grands Prix.
This work was due to continue into the third and final testing session because of high winds in the afternoon. Set-ups for new mechanical components were also evaluated.
For Red Bull David Coulthard continued to evaluate new aero and mechanical components.
Ian Morgan, chief test engineer, said: “The day went well, providing some positive and interesting results. However, a minor technical problem sidelined the car around an hour before the end of the session.
“Apart from that, we worked through our programme and Mark Webber takes over from David for the final day tomorrow.”
Rubens Barrichello was evaluating race setup for the French Grand Prix on Honda’s behalf, coming seventh of the nine cars on the track, and the last of them to break one minute 22 seconds.
June 13 timesheet:
- Luca Badoer, Ferrari: 1:21.013 (95 laps)
- Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren: 1:21.374 (111 laps)
- Timo Glock, Toyota: 1:21.573 (97 laps)
- Nico Rosberg, Williams: 1:21.614 (86 laps)
- David Coulthard, Red Bull: 1:21.669 (86)
- Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber: 1:21.761 (114 laps)
- Rubens Barrichello, Honda: 1:21.950 (122 laps)
- Nelson A. Piquet, Renault: 1:22.037 (129 laps)
- Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso: 1:22.395 (101 laps)