Formula 1 Third Test: Times from Day Two at Barcelona

Dense fog greeted the drivers at the start of the second day of the third test at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona.

As the medical helicopter would have been unable to take off in the reduced visibility, the teams had to wait half an hour for the fog to clear before they were allowed to venture out. 

Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Kamui Kobayashi, Michael Schumacher, Nico Hulkenberg and the recovered Heikki Kovalainen replaced their team mates.  Romain Grosjean and Jean-Eric Vergne continued for a second day, while Williams ran a single car shared between their two race drivers.

The best time of the day was a 1:22.614, set on soft tyres by yesterday's pace-setter Grosjean.  Vergne was half a second back in second, having topped the timesheets for most of the session.

#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:22.614	123
02	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:23.126	31
03	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:23.361	85
04	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:23.447	124
05	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1:23.828	104
06	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1:23.836	77
07	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:23.893	33
08	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:23.978	79
09	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1:24.111	65
10	Bruno Senna	Williams	1:24.925	48
11	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:25.801	20

Eight cars—Vergne in second to Hamilton in ninth—were separated by less than one second, but the stand-out time is that of Kovalainen for Caterham. 

The Finn reported on Twitter that he'd lost 3kg battling food poisoning on Thursday, and his 1:23.828 was 1.6s faster than Caterham's best time in qualifying for the 2011 race.  The compound used was softer (super-soft today, soft last year), but it still represents what appears to be an admirable step forward.

A mixture of reliability issues and different priorities meant Friday saw fewer laps than Thursday, only three men exceeding 100.

Vergne's day was interrupted by an engine problem in the morning, and he only returned to the track for the final half hour.  The shared Williams was also put out of action briefly with an engine issue.

Hulkenberg's running was cut short by a driveline problem, while a hydraulic leak kept the Sauber of Kobayashi in the garage for part of the afternoon. 

Of the cars that performed longer runs, Grosjean and Alonso's race simulations were surprisingly similar.  The drop-off (gap between a time on fresh tyres and a time on older tyres) seemed less pronounced on the Lotus, but the Ferrari did appear quicker overall.

However, the red car is reportedly struggling with erratic and unpredictable handling in the corners.

We still can't be entirely sure who's in the best place right now, but as you'd expect Red Bull and McLaren are attracting the most admiring glances from those in the know.  Perhaps we'll get a better idea tomorrow.

Day three begins at 9:00 a.m. CET on Saturday.

Report and times from day one of the third test.