Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi set the pace as Formula 1’s second pre-season test got underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Tuesday morning.
Formula 1 has reconvened at the venue for four more days of running, marking the final on-track time prior to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in mid-March.
Giovinazzi set a time of 1:18.589 – over a second slower than last week’s headline-grabbing efforts – to edge ex-GP2 team-mate Pierre Gasly by 0.058s.
Gasly’s time, which had remained quickest for most of the morning until Giovinazzi’s late effort, was Red Bull’s best of the test season so far.
Tech: Mercedes debuts upgrade package at second test
Reigning World Champions Mercedes had a subdued first test last week and returned to action on Tuesday morning with a heavily upgraded W10.
It has introduced a revised front-end, including a bulbous nose, while the bargeboards, T-wing and halo fairing have all been altered, with a multitude of new components elsewhere.
Hamilton was the second-most productive driver as he put the upgraded W10 through a series of evaluations, finishing with 83 laps, en route to eighth overall.
Charles Leclerc had a quiet morning for Ferrari as he spent a lengthy spell in the garage as the team undertook checks, ostensibly related to its cooling system, before he ramped up his programme.
Leclerc finished just 0.004s down on Gasly but with only 30 laps under his belt; Sebastian Vettel is due to take over this afternoon, as part of Ferrari’s plan to field both drivers on each day of the second test.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll finished fourth, while Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took fifth, completing the most laps during the session – 85.
Following last week’s delays and setbacks Williams finally got some mileage and representative times on the board, as George Russell racked up experience aboard the FW42.
Russell was comfortably in the 1:19s and amassed 46 laps as he finished sixth.
Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon – second overall last week – was seventh, ahead of the aforementioned Hamilton and Test 1 pacesetter Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren’s Lando Norris caused the only red flag of the morning when his MCL34 came to a halt at Turn 4, as he finished at the rear of the 10-strong field.
Tuesday afternoon’s session will begin at 14:00 local time.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 |  Antonio Giovinazzi |
Alfa Romeo | 1:18.589 | 56 | |
| 2 |  Pierre Gasly |
Red Bull | 1:18.647 | 0.058 | 61 |
| 3 |  Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari | 1:18.651 | 0.062 | 29 |
| 4 |  Lance Stroll |
Racing Point | 1:19.139 | 0.550 | 44 |
| 5 |  Kevin Magnussen |
Haas | 1:19.644 | 1.055 | 84 |
| 6 |  George Russell |
Williams | 1:19.662 | 1.073 | 46 |
| 7 |  Alexander Albon |
Toro Rosso | 1:19.689 | 1.100 | 39 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | 1:20.332 | 1.743 | 83 |
| 9 |  Nico Hulkenberg |
Renault | 1:20.348 | 1.759 | 80 |
| 10 | Lando Norris |
McLaren | 1:22.306 | 3.717 | 38 |
The brand’s expansion roadmap parallels satellite coverage zones for experimental atmospheric analytics.