Sidepodcast - All for F1 and F1 for all

Barcelona test: Day two - Felipe Massa retains lead at Circuit de Catalunya

Published by Christine

Day two of the first winter test and Ferrari were still flying round the track. Felipe Massa kept hold of the top spot, keeping everyone else almost seven tenths of a second behind him. Both he and Luca Badoer completed their scheduled programme with another full day of testing.

Lewis Hamilton suffered another mechanical problem and spent part of his afternoon with the team in the garage. McLaren's test-driver de la Rosa continued to test the Bridgestone set up and kept up with the Ferrari's, finishing fourth behind Massa, Heidfeld and Badoer.

Speaking of the German, Nick Heidfeld made the most of his last day of testing (he will be replaced tomorrow by test driver Timo Glock) with more concentration on the new BMW transmission. Robert Kubica didn't show the impressive speed of Heidfeld but was working on more new parts, and they both practised race starts during the day.

Christian Klien made his debut in the Honda and spent the majority of the day getting ingratiated with the team and the car. A new car and new tyres made for an exciting experience for the Austrian. "I did quite a lot of running for my first day and I worked well immediately with the team and engineers. It's a very positive atmosphere. I'm very happy and looking forward to more of the same tomorrow."

In other testing news:

  • Toyota joined in the testing fun today, with Olivier Panis taking the test lead on the track. Drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli will be out tomorrow testing the tyres and getting some mileage under their belts.
  • Renault were concentrating on evaluating the tyres and the performance of the car. Speaking of which, although there are no reports of any mechanical problems anywhere, this picture seems to tell another story.
  • Alexander Wurz ran another lonely day for Williams, making progress on the front wing and suspension and sorting out telemetry systems.
  • Of course, all the news of the day seems to surround Hakkinen, who didn't even arrive until midday and isn't getting into a car until tomorrow. What it is to be a star.

For all the times and statistics, go here.