Nico Hulkenberg gave Williams a boost by topping the times on the second day of testing at Barcelona on Friday – pipping Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari by 0.023s.
Alonso set a blistering pace in the morning and remained on top until mid-afternoon, when Hulkenberg uncorked a 1m20.614s on the second flying lap of a two-lap qualifying-style run.
It was an encouraging sign for the Grove-based squad, even if the huge unknown factor of how much fuel other teams were running continues to prevent a meaningful comparison of relative pace at the front of the field.
“We’ve had a good test here,” said Hulkenberg.
“P1 today is nice but means nothing, to be honest. We’re not in Bahrain yet!
“It’s positive for the team, and for me, to know what the car can do though.
“We did a lot of set-up work today and have found some interesting things so I feel ready and confident to go to Bahrain now.”
After an electrical problem delayed him on Thursday, Alonso wasted no time in showing Ferrari’s hand with a sequence of quick laps this morning while trying out a host of new aerodynamic components on the F10, including a shark fin engine cover.
The Spaniard switched his focus to a race simulation in the afternoon and finished with the day’s highest lap tally (133) despite causing a red flag moments before the scheduled end of the session.
Sauber continued to impress, Pedro de la Rosa posting a best time just 0.3s slower than Alonso’s shortly before the lunch break and finishing the day third fastest.
Tonio Liuzzi followed a similar schedule (short runs in the morning followed by a race simulation after lunch) and wound up fourth quickest in the Force India, leaving the Italian cautiously optimistic about the VJM02’s form.
“We can be quite happy about today's programme,” he said.
“We completed everything without any issues and the car showed very good reliability, even when we did the race simulation.
“Again it is responding very well and we are improving day by day so everything is looking positive.
“We still don't know where we are relative to the others, and we will only see in Bahrain, but overall we can be really happy.”
Sebastian Vettel virtually mirrored Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber’s Thursday programme and slightly improved on the Australian’s time (set on a dirtier track).
Vettel’s running was briefly interrupted when the RB6 developed an undisclosed technical problem in the afternoon and he stopped the car as a precaution, but he subsequently completed his race simulation successfully.
“It was good today – we didn’t have any major problems,” he reported.
“We had to stop in the afternoon for a minor issue, but it’s quite normal in testing.
“When you’re testing, you don’t want to risk any damage so it’s best to switch the car off and stop if you don’t have to push when there’s an alert in the background.
“We had a lot of rain in Jerez so we still have a lot to do over the last two days here, such as finding out more about the tyres and doing some set-up work.”
Jaime Alguersuari was sixth quickest for Toro Rosso on his final day of pre-season testing, mixing short runs with pit stop practice in the morning before moving on to a trouble-free race simulation.
Michael Schumacher kept a low profile as he focused on developing the set-up and balance of the W01 over long runs and did not indulge in any qualifying-style forays.
“We had a positive day but it was quite stop-start with some changes on the car and then the red flags towards the end of the day,” he said.
“We are working hard and, even if the programme doesn't run as smoothly as we would have liked, there is much more to come from the team both here and in Bahrain.
“We are working very well together and there is a good atmosphere within the team.”
Another former world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was a similarly low-key eighth in the McLaren ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, whose track time was severely curtailed by a suspension problem in the afternoon.
“It’s frustrating to lose track time this afternoon because of a problem with the suspension, but I’m sure the team will get on top of the issue so that we can have a good weekend,” said the Pole, who completed 53 laps.
“We have some new aero parts coming on Saturday and Sunday, which will help improve the pace of the car.”
At the foot of the timesheet, Lotus got the better of its rival new team Virgin and also completed more laps – even though problems with the T127 (including a power steering failure) twice brought Jarno Trulli to a halt and caused red flags.
For Virgin it was a relief to get 52 laps in after Lucas di Grassi’s Thursday crash at Campsa had forced the mechanics to rebuild the chassis overnight and into the morning session.
Timo Glock finished 0.4s adrift of Trulli and 5.3s shy of Hulkenberg’s benchmark.
Testing times from Barcelona (Friday 26 February)
1 HULKENBERG Williams 1m20.614s (99)
2 ALONSO Ferrari 1m20.637s (133)
3 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m20.973s (114)
4 LIUZZI Force India 1m21.056s (90)
5 VETTEL Red Bull 1m21.258s (125)
6 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m21.571s (104)
7 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m21.689s (85)
8 HAMILTON McLaren 1m22.152s (93)
9 KUBICA Renault 1m24.912s (53)
10 TRULLI Lotus 1m25.524s (70)
11 GLOCK Virgin 1m25.942s (52)
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