Grosjean surges to the top of the F1 timesheets in Barcelona - Week two, day two at the Circuit de Catalunya and conditions remain mixed
Published by Christine
From the bottom of the timesheets yesterday, Lotus managed to claw their way back up to the top, posting the fastest time by just a few tenths of a second. Romain Grosjean finished up his pre-season testing by squeezing in a fast lap in between the rain showers that littered the day. Jenson Button posted the second fastest time for McLaren, with Pastor Maldonado behind in the Williams.
I had a good feeling in the car but we still have things we can improve. This afternoon we were able to complete some aero evaluations, with particular focus on trying some different front wings.
- Pastor Maldonado, Williams
There were red flags aplenty throughout the day, with Daniel Ricciardo stopping out on track, and both Giedo van der Garde and pacesetter Romain Grosjean also bringing proceedings to a halt. Williams forced an early end to the day's running when Pastor Maldonado stopped out on track, after purposefully running out of fuel to test the system.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:22.716 | 88 |
| 2 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:23.181 | 72 |
| 3 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1:23.628 | 74 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:23.743 | 65 |
| 5 | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 1:23.744 | 79 |
| 6 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1:24.215 | 62 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:25.483 | 61 |
| 8 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1:25.598 | 75 |
| 9 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 1:26.316 | 48 |
| 10 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.655 | 120 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:27.878 | 102 |
At the lower end of the timesheets, both Rosberg and Alonso put in a heap of work to complete over 220 laps between them. It was a race simulation each for the Mercedes and Ferrari driver. Max Chilton completed 75 laps during the day, as the team's decision to replace Luiz Razia with Jules Bianchi means Max will finally have to hand over the car to someone else.
Morning from a very cold wet windy Circuit de Catalunya!! Hopefully it'll blow over soon! Bored of the wet now, need some dry running.
JensonButton
Pastor stopped on track at the end of running today as we did a standard fuel run-out test - data checked and results as expected
They tell us tomorrow it will be warmer and apparently there will be a yellow thing called SUN! We'll believe it when we see it! #f1
Not a lot of laps today.. Some issues with the car in the afternoon, but iam positive!! Hope tomorrow it's a dry day with lots of laps!
Both Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas are done for the pre-season for now. Kimi and Pastor will be back in action tomorrow, whilst the other teams swap their drivers back and forth for the next two days. All eyes on Marussia as Chilton will hand over to Jules Bianchi for one and a half day's running - no pressure Jules!
