Ferrari tops day 2 as McLaren hits more trouble

F1 Test, Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya

The second day of pre-season winter testing at Barcelona kicked off this morning with lots and lots of aerodynamic measurement equipment fitted on the cars in their early runs. Raikkonen and rookie Stroll were the first to head out.

Giovinazzi - filling in for Wehrlein at Sauber - joined them rapidly, along with Haas newcomer Magnussen.

At McLaren, Vandoorne was also out quickly, but saw his car come to a halt at the pitlane entry on lap 2. Pitcrew ran towards him to recover the car. Fortunately for the Belgian, the problems were limited - or as McLaren said, "set-up niggles", and he was out on track less than an hour later. In fact, it was Vandoorne who stopped the car, having felt something unusual. The team does not believe it was a reliability problem. Vandoorne went on to have a straightforward morning without any further issues.

Meanwhile, Honda reported that they did indeed expect that the fuel tank needed to be redesigned, following Alonso's stoppage on Monday. For Gary Anderson, former technical director at Jordan Grand Prix, this is a worrying sign: "It’s worrying to see Honda say that there are concerns about its oil tank based on what happened yesterday. To discover an oil tank shape is potentially incorrect suggests something is seriously wrong as normally it only shows up as a pickup problem in fast corners.

"To discover it on an installation lap at lower speeds suggests it’s a fundamental problem. The oil tank is vital to the engine and something most teams have a very good understanding of and very good test rigs to simulate all the forces and flows. So for McLaren and Honda to come to the first test session with a potential problem is a concern. It seems they are still missing out on the basics."

By that time, Hamilton had already completed the first timed lap of the day, this time without a shark fin, but including a double T-wing on the back of the car.

Toro Rosso joined the track action soon enough, with Force India out around 11:00 as the team were completing overnight work on their VJM10.

At Sauber, the story was a bit the reverse of Force India, with the team encountering a power unit issue on the first runs, requiring a engine change.

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The afternoon session was less troublesome for most, with little change in the ranking of best times of the day.

Sadly for Vandoorne, McLaren's MCL32 wasn't among those running reliably, with another complete PU change required just before the lunch break. This saw the McLaren return to the track just 45 minutes before the end of the session.

Lance Stroll meanwhile had only himself to blame for the lack of action, as the lack of spares for the Williams FW40 forced him to look from the pitlane after his spin at turn 9. 12 laps isn't a great haul for your first day in the 2017 car, but at least he has been able to bag a lot of experience in private testing in a 2014 Williams to help with the step up from F3.