Daniel Ricciardo finished on top of the time sheets for Red Bull on the second day of the second pre-season test in Barcelona.

Ricciardo set his time of 1:24.574 just before the lunch break on the soft compound tyres. This time stood for the rest of the day. Second for the day was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who was just 0.010s off Ricciardo’s pace. Third for the day was Williams’ Felipe Massa who was just 0.098s off the pace. It was very close at the top today with the top three just separated by 0.1s.

Sergio Perez ended his day in 4th with a time of 1:24.702 for Force India. Lewis Hamilton who was not scheduled to drive today got behind the wheel of the W06 in the afternoon session and managed 5th fastest for the day and also managed to complete and impressive 89 laps despite not feeling well. Nico Rosberg drove the morning session and was 6th fastest for the day. He handed over to Hamilton so as to not further aggravate his inflamed nerve on his neck.

Despite the ERS issue on the McLaren, Fernando Alonso managed to complete 59 laps today with his fastest being a 1:25.961. Although well off the pace of the front running cars it is encouraging news for the Woking outfit and for Honda.

Jolyon Palmer had his debut for Lotus today. He finished 8 fastest. Marcus Ericsson finished 9th for Sauber and Carlos Sainz Jr finishing the slowest on the day. Sainz Jr clocked up 100 laps today despite a big off at the very fast T9 right hander.

It was a very strong showing from Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari. Although they may not show it, Mercedes are becoming increasingly weary about the pace of those three teams and will be watching them closely. There is no doubt that the other teams have stepped up their game but something tells me we have not yet seen the absolute pace of the Mercedes cars just yet.

Below are the unofficial times from day 2 of the second pre-season test:

Photo Credit: Infinity Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Team