- Mugello test - Day 2
Grosjean and Kobayashi top day two with identical times
- Drivers:
- Romain Grosjean
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- Kamui Kobayashi
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- Sebastian Vettel
- Teams:
- Alfa Romeo
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- Lotus F1
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- Red Bull
Romain Grosjean and Kamui Kobayashi finished the second day of the Mugello test tied at the top of the timesheets with identical lap times.
Grosjean's morning effort looked as though it would go unbeaten until Kobayashi came out for his final run on soft tyres and set an identical 1:21.603 with his first lap out of the pits. The top seven drivers were all fairly tightly packed, with less than a second covering them, but the teams will be more interested in analysing data on their latest updates than the order on the timing screens.
Sebastian Vettel came closest to the lead pair with a 1:21.825 after taking over from Mark Webber in the Red Bull RB8 for the afternoon. Webber's morning time was still good enough for fourth fastest as the Red Bull pair amassed 114 laps between them over the course of the day.
Felipe Massa also made the most of the dry weather to clock up 106 laps in the Ferrari, with rumours that new rear bodywork could arrive on the F2012 for the final day of the test tomorrow. Fernando Alonso will be back behind the wheel of the car on Thursday and, with or without the upgrade, will be hoping to make up for the track time he missed out on in the wet on Tuesday.
Jean-Eric Vergne set the sixth fastest time after completing 65 laps in the Toro Rosso as the team gathered data on a new exhaust layout. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo took over for the final hour of the afternoon session and managed to cram in 22 laps and the seventh fastest time overall.
Michael Schumacher completed the most laps of all with 144 and was 1.8s off the pace after completing a series of fairly lengthily stints throughout the day. The Mercedes driver openly criticised the Pirelli tyres at the last grand prix in Bahrain, but said he was coping better with the levels of degradation at Mugello on Wednesday.
Charles Pic completed 46 laps in the Marussia in the morning and set the ninth fastest time before handing the car over to team-mate Timo Glock in the afternoon. However, a power steering issue meant the German only managed a further 37 laps along with the 12th fastest time.
Vitaly Petrov set the 10th fastest time as Caterham also tested a new exhaust layout and clocked up a healthy 112 laps in total. McLaren test driver Gary Paffett was back behind the wheel of the McLaren, but completed just 59 laps before a gearbox problem cut his day three hours short. On Thursday Oliver Turvey will be back in the cockpit of the MP4-27 - McLaren the only team not giving either of its drivers any track time this week.
Force India and Paul di Resta had a disappointing day as the VJM05, complete with a new exhaust similar to the McLaren's, only managed 14 laps and the 13th fastest time. The team cited a hydraulic issue and an engine change as the culprits, and combined they meant di Resta did not set a flying lap until the final few minutes of the session.
Bruno Senna rounded off the times after completing exactly 100 laps in the Williams with a best time of 1:24.842.
Times
Driver | Car | Time | Laps | |
1. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus E20 | 1:21.603 | 97 |
2. | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber C31 | 1:21.603 | 87 |
3. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull RB8 | 1:21.825 | 64 |
4. | Mark Webber | Red Bull RB8 | 1:21.997 | 54 |
5. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari F2012 | 1:22.257 | 106 |
6. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso STR7 | 1:22.422 | 65 |
7. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso STR7 | 1:22.588 | 22 |
8. | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes W03 | 1:23.404 | 144 |
9. | Charles Pic | Marussia MR01 | 1:23.982 | 46 |
10. | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham CT01 | 1:24.312 | 112 |
11. | Gary Paffett | McLaren MP4-27 | 1:24.480 | 59 |
12. | Timo Glock | Marussia MR01 | 1:24.499 | 37 |
13. | Paul di Resta | Force India VJM05 | 1:24.749 | 14 |
14. | Bruno Senna | Williams FW34 | 1:24.842 | 100 |