Felipe Massa was once again fastest for Ferrari in the second day of testing at Valencia.
The Brazilian continued to rack up substantial mileage throughout the day and further dispelled any initial doubts over the competitiveness of the new F10 by setting a time of 1:11.722.
BMW Sauber once again showed the potential of the C29 with Kamui Kobayashi setting the second fastest time of the day, some three tenths off Massa.
“It was definitely a good day,” Kobayashi told Autosport. “We had no problems with the car and covered a lot of mileage. The car felt good. I enjoyed driving a lot and also working with the team.
“It was a difficult winter for everyone but they seem to have done a good job; I want to thank them for that. Now it is important to keep working hard for the remaining test opportunities.”
Today’s session also marked the return of Lewis Hamilton to action, as the 2008 champion attempted to get to grips with the new MP4-25. Hamilton posted the third fastest time after completing 108 laps and later said that he had been delighted with the day’s progress in comparison to when he first sampled last year’s MP4-24.
“It was a night and day difference and feeling compared to the first lap and the first test day in 2009,” Hamilton told reporters at the end of the day.
“I have a positive feeling. I’ve obviously kept a close eye on the development of the car and the results we got at the end of 2009 – so seeing this car evolve and having the input into it, I was very excited to get in the car today to see what parts we have improved.
“Hopefully we would have got rid of a lot of the bugs that we had in the previous car.
“So I got in today and it felt good. I got out smiling and all the problems I had generally with the last car I didn’t have with this one. There are still of areas we can improve on.”
Although today’s action ran without little incident, the session was brought to a premature end when Robert Kubica stopped out on circuit. The Renault driver was rather anonymous for most of the session, instead choosing to focus on long runs.
Behind Kubica was the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg who failed to better the time that his team-mate, Michael Schumacher, had set on Monday until forty minutes before the end of the session.
Rosberg also responded to the comments made by Rubens Barrichello who yesterday claimed that the young German should “get out” of Mercedes or risk having his career damaged.
“I’m not too worried and, in general, I’m go to go for it and we will see what comes of it.” Rosberg told Autosport. “If I’m ahead, great; if I’m behind, I need to work harder.”
“I am confident from last year that I can do well. I don’t have a problem. It’s going to be challenge, of course, because I’m up against one of the greatest of all time.”
Tomorrow will see the final day of the three-day test with Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher all expect to run for their respected teams.
Provisional times from Day Two: Pos. Driver Team Times Laps Completed 01. Massa Ferrari 1:11.722 124 laps 02. Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:12.056 96 laps 03. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.256 108 laps 04. Kubica Renault 1:12.426 119 laps 05. Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:12.899 119 laps 06. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:13.377 102 laps 07. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:13.823 107 laps
