Ferrari show of strength on the second day in Barcelona

The Ferrari F1-75 was not only fast but also very reliable as Leclerc and Carlos Saint completed 150 laps in the afternoon – more than any other team. However, the opposite happened with the Red Bull RB18.

Sergio Perez completed just 78 laps yesterday despite Max Ferstappen’s impressive 147 laps as a gearbox problem kept him on track and kept him in the garage for more than two hours. It was the first and only serious problem faced by any of the major sports teams today.

With the Mexican in 7th place, 1.8s behind Ferrari, Pierre Gusli and his ‘brother’ Alpha Tauri AT03 climbed into second place, just over two tenths behind Leclerc – but, as mentioned above, with the soft eraser.

Daniel Ricciardo tried to lower the McLaren MCL36’s time with two sets of soft tires (C4) in the last half hour but ended up staying at the 1’20.288 he had set with the middle eraser (C3). The Australian completed 127 laps, Gasley 146 – the second biggest harvest after the Scuderia.

Mercedes continued to keep a low profile – it suggests Hamilton was bottom of the table this morning – and completed 106 laps with the seven-time champion in the morning and George Russell in the afternoon. The young champion’s driver was about eight-tenths of a second off Leclerc by the same (middle) eraser.

Alongside Pereth and RBR, the red flag was raised for the second time in today’s tests – for Haas and Nikita Mazepin, who lay motionless on the track with a defective gas pump. The Russian had completed 9 laps by then and went out on track in the last 90 minutes but managed to score the encouraging 8th year.

Chinese Guanio Chou’s 10th year in his first contact with Alfa Romeo was also quite decent – especially considering yesterday’s and some recent C42 reliability issues. That day, however, Hinville’s car completed 71 laps with Chow and another 21 with Valteri Botas in the morning.

Finally, it should be noted that this year’s brand new car technical regulations have caused an unexpected problem for all teams. This is due to their complete philosophy change where most of the aerodynamic lift is generated by the ground (ground effect) and not the bodywork.

In particular, on the bottom of the cars, the coordination phenomenon is caused by the straight lines, with the consequence that they show rather serious tendencies to jump because they disturb the overall aerodynamic balance.

Scuderia Ferrari CEO Matthias Binotto acknowledged that most teams have underestimated the problem and that solving the problem is simple – but also extremely difficult in order not to compromise on aerodynamic performance. “I am sure that every team will find a solution at some point. “But whoever finds it earlier has an advantage at the start of the season,” said the Italian.