Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel led the way as the second pre-season test commenced in warm and sunny conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Following last week’s unseasonably cold and wet weather, typical conditions greeted the teams on Tuesday, enabling the bulk to complete substantial run plans.
Vettel and Mercedes rival Valtteri Bottas jostled for overall honour on the Soft tyres, with the latter prevailing by a slender margin, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also joined the fray.
Vettel, though, improved to clock a benchmark of 1:20.396 on Mediums, finishing exactly two-tenths clear of Bottas, as Verstappen finished 0.053s further behind the Finn.
All three completed over a race distance worth of mileage, completing their morning programmes with their lap charts into the 80s.
Toro Rosso built on a productive first week as Pierre Gasly finished in fourth position, in front of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin placed seventh, ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Force India’s Sergio Perez, with the Mexican less than 1.6s behind pacesetter Vettel.
McLaren, meanwhile, had a disrupted morning, as an electrical shutdown twice caused Stoffel Vandoorne to come to a halt.
The first instance happened upon his return to the pits, following an installation lap, and he was able to be wheeled back to the garage by his mechanics.
The second occurrence came as he rounded the final corner an hour into running, and he stopped at the side of the circuit, causing the session to be halted.
Vandoorne returned to action for only the final minute of running, leaving him at the foot of the timesheets, with just seven laps to his name.
Running will resume at 14:00 local time and continue through to 18:00.
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