Mercedes ended the second test the way they started it as Lewis Hamilton put the W04 on top of the times sheets.
But showers in the morning, more rain in the afternoon and a string of red flags meant a disrupted day for all the teams at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Hamilton set his quickest time when the track was at it driest during the morning running. He stopped on track with a technical problem during the afternoon.
This was one of eight red flags which hampered teams’ efforts to conduct meaningful running during the test. The first came just nine minutes into the session when Felipe Massa went off at turn four.
Giedo van der Garde caused the next when he went off at the final corner. The Caterham came to a stop of a second time later in the session.
Another driver who triggered a pair of red flags for Esteban Gutierrez, who went off at least twice in the tricky conditions, including another occasion when he was able to keep going.
Another red flag was caused by Jean -Eric Vergne, who was also a victim of the conditions, spinning at turn five.
The final red flag came a few minutes before the end of the session and brought the day to an early close. Jules Bianchi, who took over from 2013 seat rival Adrian Sutil in the Force India, stopped at the pit lane exit.
Mark Webber also came to a stop in the Red Bull at Campsa.
The poor conditions and persistent stoppages led Williams to ignore timed runs and perform a series of pit stop practices instead with Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado.
The final four days of pre-season testing will begin on Thursday at the Circuit de Catalunya.
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@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd February 2013, 16:11
Wow, pit stop practice, how exciting was that !?
Ilanin (@ilanin)
22nd February 2013, 16:24
Obviously so exciting that both their drivers demanded not to be left out!
roadie
22nd February 2013, 16:29
It could prove invaluable for Williams because of the anticipated increase in the number of stops this year. Also they are working with a new traffic light system which everyone in the team needs to get used to.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd February 2013, 16:45
True, and it’s so exciting to watch.
AbeyG (@1abe)
22nd February 2013, 17:37
Yesterday, two Ferrari powered cars topped the timesheet, today its two Mercedes powered cars that topped the time sheet. As @mattc888 pointed out yesterday, , this sure will make the board members of Force India interested…or confused with regards to their driver and engine choice!
AbeyG (@1abe)
22nd February 2013, 17:40
Oh oh!! Epic link fail!
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
22nd February 2013, 17:50
I think that the last thing they will be considering for engine selection, is the test times in Barcelona . Very eager to see how Tyre lottery pans out this year . Something tells me its going to be Mclaren with the better degradation along with sauber
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd February 2013, 18:21
A thrilling prospect!
D (@f190)
22nd February 2013, 18:34
I’ve seen nothing to suggest one team’s got super bad tyre wear. My only slight worry is merc. Theycan sset quite consistent times for a few laps, but most stints started in the 1m.23 and then tailed off to 1m.28s I guess this is more delta driving but not too sure . Lotus are my sneaky tip so far, their car seems to be matching the top teams and tyre wear looks good
Rick Lopez (@viscountviktor)
22nd February 2013, 20:02
Worrying about massa, 4.2 seconds off in the rain. Again, I feel Ferari put him on the rain day delib.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd February 2013, 20:05
@viscountviktor Assuming you mean ‘deliberately’, I think that’s very unlikely given they announced their driver line-up almost a month ago:
Alonso won’t drive new Ferrari during first test