Mugello Test, Day 2

The F1 circus are in full swing as the 2nd day of testing at Mugello arrives. With conditions being dryer than the opening day, teams got in more laps and were able to collect more data in the process.

The Ferrari owned track had to be closed at some points of Tuesdays session due to torrential rain, but the running was alot smoother for the second day. The session saw a number of driver changes as the teams alternate who is driving for them.

The Lotus E20 of Romain Grosjean topped the times on the second day of testing in Italy. The teams reserve driver Jerome d'Ambrosio finished the opening day 3rd and Grosjean showed the steady progress they are making. Contrasting to the previous days conditions, the circuit remained dry and temperatures increased. This meant that many teams used the time to test and gather data, so time chasing was not the main priority.

Grosjean, who will take the place of Raikkonen on the 3rd day too, topped the time sheets with a time of 1m21.603. He ended the morning with that best time and it proved to be unbeatable. Romain's nearest challenger Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber who posted an identical time to the Frenchman. Vettel finished the day 3rd, 2 tenths off, and in front of Mark Webber. The Aussie had driven the car in the morning session but handed it over to the 2010 and 2011 world champion after lunch.
Felipe Massa finished 5th after his team mate Alonso topped the times on the opening day. Massa's drive has come under rumoured threat from the Australian driver Mark Webber, so an impressive performances was needed. He focused on low fuel, quick runs but was unable to match Grosjean. With Massa being 6 tenths off, Jean-Eric Vergne finished 6th and was 2 tenths behind Massa. He also shared the car, like sister team Red Bull, with his team mate Daniel Ricciardo who finished the day 7th.

Michael Schumacher finished 8th, some 1.8 seconds off the pace, but he did manage to complete over 100 laps in total. Charles Pic finished the day 9th, some 2.3 seconds behind fellow Frenchman Grosjean, but did well in the Marussia. Next up finished Vitaly Petrov, leap frogged by Marussia but there were a range of different schedules. Gary Paffet was close to 3 seconds off the pace in 11th, just ahead of Timo Glock who replaced Pic for the afternoon.

Paul Di Resta propped up the times after his VJM05 had a hydraulics problem. He managed only 14 laps and his best effort was over 3 seconds off the pace, just ahead of Bruno Senna's Williams in 14th.

Many teams secured over 100 laps of running, either from their sole driver or combined as many changed drivers.

Pos Driver          Team                         Time
1.  Romain Grosjean        Lotus-Renault           1m21.603s
2.  Kamui Kobayashi        Sauber-Ferrari          1m21.603s   + 0.000s
3.  Sebastian Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        1m21.825s   + 0.222s
4.  Mark Webber            Red Bull-Renault        1m21.997s   + 0.394s
5.  Felipe Massa           Ferrari                 1m22.257s   + 0.654s
6.  Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m22.422s   + 0.819s
7.  Daniel Ricciardo       Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m22.588s   + 0.985s
8.  Michael Schumacher     Mercedes                1m23.404s   + 1.801s
9.  Charles Pic            Marussia-Cosworth       1m23.982s   + 2.379s
10.  Vitaly Petrov          Caterham-Renault        1m24.312s   + 2.709s
11.  Gary Paffett           McLaren-Mercedes        1m24.480s   + 2.877s
12.  Timo Glock             Marussia-Cosworth       1m24.499s   + 2.896s
13.  Paul di Resta          Force India-Mercedes    1m24.749s   + 3.146s
14.  Bruno Senna            Williams-Renault        1m24.842s   + 3.239s