F1 Pre-Season Testing 2017: Tuesday Times and Analysis from Barcelona

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap in the afternoon session of Tuesday's Formula One winter testing, but he could not eclipse Felipe Massa's morning effort of one minute, 19.705 seconds, the second-quickest lap time of pre-season in Barcelona so far.

The four-time world champion's time of 1:19.906 on the soft tyre moved him to third fastest for the day, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo having posted a 1:19.900 in the morning on ultrasoft tyres. 

Massa had donned the supersoft tyre late in his morning stint in his Williams to set the fastest time of the day, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the early session in third—he only utilised the slower soft compound—before handing over to Valtteri Bottas for the afternoon.

Here's how the timesheet looked after the first day of action in the second week of winter testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, per the FIA:

Afternoon Recap

McLaren's pre-season woes continued on Tuesday after they were force to change yet another Honda engine, per the Telegraph:

However, Stoffel Vandoorne was able to get out in the afternoon and finished the day 10th fastest in the field and having got 80 laps under his belt.

Renault were also forced into an engine change after problems in Jolyon Palmer's morning stint. But Nico Hulkenberg ran well in the afternoon when he came out, posting a 1:21.589 to place seventh before stopping on the track to draw a red flag right at the close of play, per the circuit's Twitter feed:

The afternoon action in Catalonia was mainly focussed on getting the laps in for most of the teams as they looked to gain as much data as possible, per McLaren:

As well as topping the timesheets, Massa also ended the day with the joint most laps of any other driver, making it an excellent couple of sessions for Williams.

Vettel was unable to overhaul the Brazilian in terms of lap time but looked impressive in the afternoon's action and matched Massa for laps after completing an impressive 168. 

Meanwhile, in the Mercedes Bottas placed fifth after posting a 1:20.924 on the soft tyres in the afternoon, just behind his team-mate Hamilton and ahead of 20-year-old Esteban Ocon in the Force India.

Morning Recap

Here are the standings in full from the first session on Tuesday, per the FIA:

Ricciardo was the man who set the early pace for Red Bull, producing one of the quickest times of testing so far on the soft compound.

The Australian was in fine form in the morning, and his mark of 1:20.077 seconds had only previously been bettered three times in Catalonia during testing.

Per the F1 Twitter feed, after failing to hit top gear during the first week, the second stint had begun in much more promising style for Ricciardo:

It was a time the rest of the field struggled to match early on, including Hamilton in the rapid Mercedes.

The three-time world champion was again able to rack up plenty of laps in the W08, with 49 loops logged in his morning run. However, the Briton didn’t have the pace to match the Red Bull driver, with his best effort a 1:20.456.

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

As the team’s official Twitter feed noted during the morning, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas was keeping a close eye on his progress:

Elsewhere, Williams enjoyed a very prosperous session, with Massa showcasing some serious speed.

The Brazilian, who has returned to the sport despite announcing his retirement last year, would have been delighted with the performance of his car. Massa wasn’t initially able to usurp Ricciardo, although his time of 1:20.084 was enough to edge Hamilton in second.

In the final stages of the session, Massa and Ricciardo had a dash on the quicker supersoft tyre, and the former set the second-fastest time of winter testing in the process with a scintillating 1:19.726, with only Bottas’ mark of 1:19.705 on the ultras the only lap faster.

Ricciardo also improved on his time late on, although his 1:19.900 in the RB13 wasn't enough to knock Massa off the top.