Schumacher leads day two at Jerez

February 8th, 2012

Michael Schumacher set the pace on the second day’s testing at Jerez as Mark Webber led the way for Red Bull in F1′s 2012-spec cars.

Schumacher, driving last year’s Mercedes W02 in full trim so that the team could gain as much information about Pirelli’s 2012 tyres from a stable platform, set a 1m18.561s lap during the morning that no one came close to beating for the rest of the day.

Webber’s time also came in the morning as much of the paddock chose to focus on longer runs in the afternoon.

The Australian’s 1m19.184s would remain the fastest time anyone has set in one of the new cars brought to Spain this week.

Daniel Ricciardo impressed in the Toro Rosso, going third fastest in the STR7, having completed 100 laps of fairly trouble-free running. He set his best time around the same period as his compatriot when the track conditions appeared to be at their best.

Jules Bianchi began his Force India career with a fine fourth fastest in the VJM05 before handing over to Paul di Resta for the afternoon and the Scot would complete 69 laps in that time to set the sixth fastest lap behind yesterday’s fastest man Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn had a couple of offs today in the Lotus. The first came early in the morning when he ran wide at Dry Sack and required a new plank. He then had another excursion very late in the day as he found the limits of this generation of cars.

He still managed 117 laps, and also got to try out a different steering rack after he found yesterday’s one not to his liking.

Ferrari was again far from the top of the timesheet, and late in the day was employing flow-vis to study the effects of aero over Fellipe Massa’s rear wing. The Brazilian’s time of 1m20.454s was 1.893s off the top time.

Jenson Button was eighth quickest in the McLaren, and like Ferrari, was not seeking any headline performance as it worked on improving the MP4-27.

Sauber’s Sergio Perez was tenth in the Sauber ahead of Pastor Maldonado, who spent the day working on reliability with the Williams FW34.

Heikki Kovalainen was slowest of the drivers equipped with 2012 machinery but completed a whopping 139 laps for Caterham as he gathered plenty of information.

Pedro de la Rosa completed HRT’s running by setting a 1m22.128s, just 0.618s off the pace of Kovalainen.

Today’s times

Pos  Driver               Team           Time               Laps

 1.  Michael Schumacher   Mercedes       1m18.561s           132
 2.  Mark Webber          Red Bull       1m19.184s  + 0.623   97
 3.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso     1m19.587s  + 1.026  100
 4.  Jules Bianchi        Force India    1m20.221s  + 1.660   46
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus          1m20.239s  + 1.678  117
 6.  Paul di Resta        Force India    1m20.272s  + 1.711   69
 7.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari        1m20.454s  + 1.893   95
 8.  Jenson Button        McLaren        1m20.688s  + 2.127   85
 9.  Sergio Perez         Sauber         1m20.711s  + 2.150   68
10.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams       1m21.197s  + 2.636   97
11.  Heikki Kovalainen    Caterham       1m21.518s  + 2.957  139
12.  Pedro de la Rosa     HRT            1m22.128s  + 3.567   64

All Timing Unofficial