Charles Leclerc impresses; Daniel Ricciardo racks up mileage on Day 2 of F1 testing 2022

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was fastest on the second day of F1 testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly racked up the most laps, followed by McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo was quickest in the morning session, with his fastest lap clocked at 1 minute 20.355 seconds before he was outpaced by his scarlet rival Leclerc. The Monagasque's quickest lap was clocked at 1 minute 19.689 seconds in the afternoon session of Day 2 of the F1 test.

The McLaren driver was able to improve in the afternoon, but was on the C4 tire compound. He was still half a second adrift of the Ferrari driver who had clocked his fastest lap on the C2 compound. Ricciardo's fastest lap of the day was clocked at 1 minute 20.288 seconds.

The Ferrari and McLaren drivers were split by Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly, who went second fastest and racked up the maximum mileage of the day by a single driver with a total of 147 laps. Leclerc logged 78 laps as his team split the testing duties between him and his teammates. Meanwhile, Ricciardo racked up the second-most mileage of the day, with 126 laps.

Mercedes' George Russell clocked the fourth-fastest lap of the day, but his teammate Lewis Hamilton was at the bottom of the timesheet with the slowest lap of the day. The Mercedes drivers together logged a total of 105 laps, with Hamilton completing only 40 laps while Russell completed 65.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz clocked the fifth-fastest lap of the day, completing a total of 71 laps. Along with his teammate, the Ferrari duo racked up a total mileage of 149 laps.

Former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel clocked the sixth-fastest lap, completing a total of 73 laps. Meanwhile, his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll struggled in 12th spot on the timesheet, completing 55 laps.

Red Bull F1 team driver Sergio Perez clocked the seventh-fastest lap of the day, but had a stoppage in the morning session.

The Mexican managed to recover his mileage at noon, logging a total of 78 laps during the day. However, his overall mileage was 69 laps fewer than his Dutch teammate, who logged the highest total of 147 laps on the previous day of F1 testing.

Haas' Nikita Mazepin clocked the eighth-fastest lap of the day, and logged a total of 47 laps. However, a damaged fuel pump plagued his sessions, keeping him in the garage for most of the day.

Williams' Alexander Albon clocked the ninth-fastest lap of the day, followed by Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou, who completed the top ten. The Thai driver completed a total of 41 laps, while Zhou completed 71.

The Chinese driver's teammate Valtteri Bottas accompanied his former Mercedes teammate at the bottom of the order in 19th spot, completing a mere 21 laps in total. The former Mercedes teammates seemed to be struggling with their new cars and tyres throughout.

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How is the F1 pecking order shaping up?

While it's early days, as many would say, the Ferrari and McLaren teams have been looking extremely competitive around the Barcelona circuit.

For the second day in a row, the drivers of both teams dominated at least one session of testing. Their cars, the F1-75 and the MCL-36, have looked more agile than the others around the Barcelona circuit, and seem comfortably ahead in the speed traps.

Based on two days of testing, the two former F1 rivals seem to be setting the pace for the rest of the field.

Mercedes seemed to be struggling with their one-lap pace, and were seen experimenting with different concepts in their cars.

A reason for their aerodynamic woes could be the cooling system in their car. The team were seen experimenting with two different cooling gills on both cars. While Russell managed to rack up decent mileage in his session, Hamilton complained about the new tyres on his radio, and barely racked up any mileage.

The Red Bull F1 team, meanwhile, have not gone full throttle, and seem to be sandbagging in terms of their pace. However, Max Verstappen's mileage on the first day of the test was an indicator of their comfort with their new car.

The radical concept of RB18 has been a heaturner, so it is only a matter of time before they unmask their one-lap pace. Experimenting with different floors, the team flew in new parts on the second day. Overall, Red Bull have run a different program with no urgency to focus on sprint laps.