Michael Schumacher set the fastest time for Mercedes GP on day two of the latest pre-season Formula One test at Jerez.
The seven-times world champion completed 112 laps of the 4.428-km Spanish circuit in all, setting a best lap of one minute 20.352 seconds.
Schumacher ended the day less than a tenth of a second quicker than Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who was fastest on day one of the four-day test.
“It clearly was a productive day, and obviously I am happy about that,” Schumacher said. “We were focusing on long runs and being able to produce such a lot of mileage is positive in terms of reliability. It also gives us good data for the test days to come and for the developments we are working on.
“We are moving forward as we should during the testing period but at the same time, we are aware we have to keep pushing.” SkySports
Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which topped the timesheets on the opening day of testing on Thursday, was again amongst the fastest cars, completing the day just a tenth of a second down on the Mercedes.
Jenson Button took over from Lewis Hamilton in the new McLaren MP4-26 and the 2009 world champion ended the day third quickest.
Spain’s Jaime Alguersuari produced some eye-catching times to complete the day fourth in his Toro Rosso, despite spinning off the track, while the Red Bull of Mark Webber finished the day in fifth. CNN International
“The car ran very well and we’re continuing to learn,” said Webber. “It’s very early days at the moment in terms of performance and there’s a long way to go before the first race, but we’ve got some good mileage in, which is important.”
Force India’s Adrian Sutil spent a second day in the newly-launched VJM04 and finished sixth, ahead of Sauber’s Sergio Perez in seventh in the C30. Perez completed 56 laps as he carried out set-up work. Everything was progressing smoothly until the Mexican had an off in the afternoon on Pirelli’s hard compound. Team mate Kamui Kobayashi will test on Saturday.
“I’m fine but I feel sorry for the team, and especially the mechanics, because of the crash,” explained Perez. “I lost the rear in turn seven and we obviously lost working time. I hope the rest of the test will be good for the team and Kamui, and they cover a lot of mileage. For me it was another day during which I have learnt a lot.”
Virgin were pleased with Timo Glock’s eighth place on the timesheets. Glock outpaced Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, who finished in ninth and tenth respectively. Formula 1
| 
|