• Barcelona Test - Day 2

Maldonado fastest, Mercedes tests exhaust and Wolff returns

© Sutton Images

Enlarge

Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time on the second day of testing at Barcelona, using super-soft tyres to top the timesheets ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

Maldonado's time of 1:24.871, set in the final moments of the session, was the quickest time set at the track over the course of the grand prix weekend and testing. It was also 1.8s quicker than Max Chilton's super-soft time on Tuesday, putting the Marussia's lap in context.

Rosberg's time of 1:25.805 was set on medium tyres after testing a new 'megaphone' exhaust on the car in the morning. He did just 13 laps with the new exhaust, although the difference in volume was hardly noticeable from trackside when the old and new exhausts were run back to back. Force India test driver Daniel Juncadella followed the Mercedes at one point, but said he did not notice a significant difference.

The 'megaphone' exhaust © Sutton Images

Enlarge

"I drove behind him once, but I didn't really hear much," he said. "There is obviously not a lot of sound on the engines, but I heard someone say there is not a big difference. We will see if it changes, but for the moment it looks like it is not a big problem. It is just something very new for everyone."

Juncadella was one of four drivers to cause a red flag in the morning when he went off the track and damaged the front wing of the Force India against the barrier at Turn 4. He was testing tyres for Pirelli along with McLaren's test and GP2 driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who had a more successful day with a total of 136 laps.

Williams test driver Susie Wolff also caused a red flag when she spun at Turn 11 an hour and 20 minutes into the session. It was Wolff's first taste of the Williams FW36 and here second test in a contemporary F1 car following her outing at Silverstone last year. She focused mainly on aerodynamic work and by the end of the session had the fifth fastest time with the help of a set of soft tyres.

Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Gutierrez also used soft tyres for their best laps and ended up third and fourth, roughly 1.6 and 2.1s off the pace of Maldonado respectively. Jules Bianchi brought Marussia back down to earth after Chilton's fastest lap on Tuesday, with the sixth fastest time, but he did not go out on super-softs.

Sebastian Vettel was seventh fastest after his Red Bull spent most of the morning in the garage, allowing him to indulge in a spot of sunbathing on the pit wall. However, Daniil Kvyat's day was much worse as he was limited to just 21 laps in the Toro Rosso due to mechanical issues throughout the day.

Caterham decided to pack up early and head back to base after Kamui Kobayashi's accident on Tuesday caused enough damage to rule out a test day for Robin Frijns on Wednesday.

just tried the new exhaust system. but didn´t work out. didn´t make it much louder. we r pushing for another solution http://t.co/hL24YrijLD

— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) May 14, 2014

Barcelona Test - Day 2

1.  Pastor Maldonado    Lotus        1:24.871  102 laps
2.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes     1:25.805  102 laps
3.  Kimi Raikkonen      Ferrari      1:26.480  94  laps
4.  Esteban  Gutierrez  Sauber       1:26.972  85  laps
5.  Susie Wolff         Williams     1:27.280  55  laps
6.  Jules Bianchi       Marussia     1:27.718  55  laps
7.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull     1:27.973  73  laps
8.  Daniel Juncadella   Force India  1:28.278  91  laps
9.  Stoffel Vandoorne   McLaren      1:28.441  136 laps
10. Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso   1:28.910  21  laps

© Sutton Images

Enlarge

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.