Raikkonen fastest after day two but causes red flag

Published on 20 Feb 2020 18:01

By: Fergal Walsh

Kimi Raikkonen has ended the second day of pre-season testing on top of the timesheets, setting a 1:17.091.

However, his day ended rather sourly as he caused the first red flag of the pre-season test with under 20 minutes left to run in the session,

His car ground to a halt as he approached Turn 9. The Iceman was the only driver to set a lap faster than Perez's, who second-placed time was clocked early in the morning.

While Perez's lap was set on the C3 compound, Raikkonen used the softest C5 tyre to complete his time.

Daniel Ricciardo was third for Renault, who was the only team during the day to not set over 100 laps. Driving duties were split between Ricciardo and Ocon, who tallied 41 and 46 laps respectively.

Alexander Albon was fourth in his first day behind the wheel of the RB16. Former Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly was fifth.

After missing the opening day of testing due to an illness, Sebastian Vettel was deployed in the Ferrari SF1000 in the afternoon, taking over from Charles Leclerc.

The four-time world champion was sixth, ahead of the Williams of George Russell and Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton was ninth, as the biggest talking point from the day emerged from the Mercedes camp.

The Silver Arrows revealed a new steering system, named the 'DAS' system, which allows the driver to control the toe angle with the steering wheel.

MORE: Mercedes: No legality concerns over new 'DAS' steering system

Lando Norris rounded out the top ten, closely followed by Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman was the first to make contact with the barriers, hitting the wall in the final hour at Turn 4 and suffering minor rear wing damage.

Esteban Ocon was 12th and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the timesheets for Mercedes. The team confirmed an electrical issue halted his on-track programme in the last half hour.