F1 News: McLaren Tops Testing Second Day In A Row As Alfa Romeo Has Serious Issues

For a second day in the row, McLaren has beaten Ferrari during the Barcelona F1 testing session with Daniel Ricciardo topping the time sheet ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the morning session.

Moments after a red flag caused by Sergio Perez in his Red Bull, Ricciardo completed a 1m20.355s lap on Pirelli’s C3 rubber compound. Perez’s Red Bull had suspected gearbox issues and came to a stop on the final chicane, but after a 20-minute wait, the McLaren was out again to show its dominance.

Sainz followed by two tenths on the time sheet whilst also putting 71 laps under his belt, the highest mileage of the day, and Piere Gasly for AlphaTauri came in third fastest of the day.

Williams also had issues during the day with a “small pump issue”, which stripped an hour off Alex Albon’s testing time. But despite only completing 47 laps today, he finished the day with the fourth fastest lap time with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll following behind him.

Alfa Romeo had major issues as they struggled with porpoising issues on its cars. This is an issue we’ve heard very little of since F1 moved away from cars using ground effect, but with the largest regulation change in F1 history this year, ground effect has returned. It shows its symptom in the form of the car bouncing at high speeds.

Because of this, Valtteri Bottas only completed 20 laps which forced him to cancel his media session of the day.

Day Two Barcelona Testing Results

1. Ricciardo (McLaren) 1.20.355, C3, 65 laps
2. Sainz (Ferrari) 1.20.546, C3, 71 laps
3. Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1.20.764, C3, 61 laps
4. Albon (Williams) 1.21.531, C3, 47 laps
5. Stroll (Aston Martin) 1.21.920, C2, 55 laps
6. Schumacher (Haas) 1.21.949, C3, 66 laps
7. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 1.22.288, C3, 21 laps
8. Perez (Red Bull) 1.22.412, C2, 38 laps
9. Hamilton (Mercedes) 1.22.562, C2, 40 laps
10. Ocon (Alpine) 1m23.280, C2, 66 laps