Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr went fastest on the second morning of the final pre-season test in Barcelona on Friday as an encouraging couple of days for Sauber continued.
Nasr’s teammate Marcus Ericsson was second fastest on Thursday and also churned out a full race simulation with 122 laps.
Nico Rosberg was second quickest as Mercedes got back on track after failing to run on Thursday afternoon due to an engine problem.
Significantly, Rosberg was faster than his German compatriot Sebastian Vettel despite running on the slower medium tyres, whilst the four-time world champion was on soft tyres in his Ferrari.
There was a more positive morning for McLaren after an awful couple of weeks in testing marred by a series of reliability problems and Fernando Alonso’s crash last week which left him in hospital for three days.
Jenson Button was able to complete 44 laps, but was still way behind on time as the 2009 world champion was nearly four seconds off the pace set by Nasr.
Meanwhile, Force India finally unveiled their VJM08 car for the upcoming season, but Nico Hulkenberg only had time for four laps before lunch.
Results from the morning session on day two of the third pre-season test in Barcelona:
1. Felipe Nasr (BRA/Sauber) 1:24.071 (59 laps)
2. Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes) 1:25.216 (65 laps)
3. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) 1:25.339 (69 laps)
4. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Williams) 1:26.032 (59 laps)
5. Max Verstappen (NED/Toro Rosso) 1:26.766 (78 laps)
6. Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Lotus) 1:28.013 (50 laps)
7. Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren) 1:28.052 (44 laps)
8. Daniil Kyvat (RUS/Red Bull) 1:29.294 (36 laps)
9. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Force India) 1:31.165 (5 laps)
– Agence France-Presse
