Ricciardo puts Red Bull on top at Barcelona

Red Bull Content Pool

Daniel Ricciardo sent Red Bull to the top of the times for the first time in 2015 after he topped the second day of the second pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Ricciardo set a 1:24.574 to edge out Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen by one hundredth of a second, with both drivers setting their fastest time on Softs within minutes of each other.

Ricciardo also topped the lap charts, having racked up 143 laps courtesy of a race simulation in the afternoon, albeit one interrupted when Carlos Sainz Jr. stopped at Turn 9.

Williams’ Felipe Massa was third quickest, with the Brazilian also setting his quickest time on the Soft compound tyres.

Sergio Pérez was fourth quickest in Force India’s 2014 car, with the Mexican enjoying spells at the top of the times early on.

World Champion Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes after he replaced team-mate Nico Rosberg for the afternoon session, with the Briton setting his quickest time on the Medium tyres.

Rosberg completed the morning session for the squad but sat out the afternoon running on a precautionary basis after his neck pain on Thursday; he ended the day in sixth place.

Together the Mercedes drivers accrued 155 laps to make up for their comparative lack of running on Thursday.

Fernando Alonso was seventh for McLaren as the team attempted to maximise their track running despite awaiting a new part. Despite that issue, Alonso managed to complete 59 laps - by far the squad's most productive day as pre-season testing reached the halfway mark.

Reigning GP2 Champion Jolyon Palmer had his first run out in his role as Lotus test driver and finished the day eighth fastest.

Marcus Ericsson was ninth for Sauber - and also caused a red flag late on when he stopped on the pit straight - while Sainz Jr. rounded out the runners.