Daniel Ricciardo provided Red Bull Racing a solid boost by going fastest on this week's second day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, Spain.
It was incredibly tight at the top of Friday's timesheet, however, with less than a tenth of a second covering the Renault-powered Red Bull, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and the Williams-Mercedes of Felipe Massa.
Ultimately the Australian's 1m24.574 - set on a set of Pirelli's yellow-marked soft tires - proved enough for first place. Mexican Sergio Perez was fourth in the year-old Force India VJM07, beating the Mercedes AMG of Lewis Hamilton by just two tenths of a second.
The reigning world champion set his best time on the white-marked medium tires, but was still able to get within four-tenths of Ricciardo's overall benchmark. Hamilton had not been expected to drive today, but took over for the afternoon session after Nico Rosberg's running was ended as a precaution so as to not aggravate a trapped nerve in his neck, which could have jeopardised his fitness for the final day on Sunday.
Rosberg's morning time left him sixth overall, while Fernando Alonso ended what was McLaren-Honda's most productive day so far in 2015 in seventh. Alonso covered 59 laps in total, even though the British team is still waiting for a replacement seal on the MGU-K component of Honda's new power unit. Second winter test session, Day 2 times*, Barcelona: 1. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m24.574, 143 laps 2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m24.584, 90 3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m24.672, 88 4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m24.702, 121 5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m24.923, 89 6. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m25.556, 66 7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1m25.961, 59 8. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus, 1m26.280, 77 9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1m27.334, 113 10. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1m28.945, 100 * Unofficial timing
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