Cold freezes teams' ambitions at Barcelona tests

The start of the second day of winter testing F1 contested on the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona (Spain) was very calm. The drivers only completed a handful of laps this morning, with the teams limiting driving due to the severe cold in Catalonia with negative temperatures in the early hours of the day.

Only two drivers set a time after the first four hours of testing. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) took first place with a lap completed in 1'20''806, one tenth of the previous day's benchmark achieved by Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull). Carlos Sainz Jr. (Renault) was the first to stand out and is currently five seconds behind the W09 which was the most diligent with 25 laps covered.

The lack of running by the teams pushed the organizers to extend the action time on track by eliminating the mid-day break. The teams thus have nine consecutive hours to work on their cars and should increase the pace of testing in the second part of the day after waiting for the conditions to evolve favorably.

Mid-day ranking – Day 2

1. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes – 1’20”806 – 25 laps
2. Carlos Sainz Jr – Renault – 1’25”059 – 8 laps
Stoffel Vandoorne – McLaren
Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari – 5 rounds
Esteban Ocon – Force India – 7 laps
Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 1 lap
Sergey Sirotkin – Williams – 18 rounds
Pierre Gasly - Toro Rosso – 5 rounds
Kevin Magnussen - Haas – 1 round
Charles Leclerc – Sauber – 12 laps