Williams Barcelona Test - 02 Mar 2016 Day Two

Driver: Valtteri Bottas
Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 19ºC / 30ºC

Day two of the second test at the Barcelona circuit would get underway for the Williams Martini team with Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel for his second day. Valtteri would take to the track with the green flag returning after his installation lap. Hamilton would post the first time of the day with a slow 1m:34.516, running aero test devices behind his front wheels. Hamilton would pit after making small improvements but it would be Vettel who would set a 1m:27.431 to be quickest. Valtteri would return to the track as Vettel set a 1m:26.978. But Valtteri would pit again without setting a time.

He would return this time running on the hard tyre and his first timed lap was a 1m:29.487. Magnussen was now second with a 1m:27.554 running on the medium tyre. Valtteri had pitted having completed five laps. Valtteri would complete a hard full of laps prior to switching to the medium tyre and then setting a 1m:25.328 to move up to second. Valtteri would set a time just 0.04 off his best as he continued his medium tyre run. Vettel's quickest time was a 1m:24.628 with nearly two hours of the day completed.

Valtteri would continue his run on the medium tyre having dropped behind Magnussen and Button who both had completed soft tyre runs. Valtteri would complete having completed thirty eight laps. Hamilton would move into second with a 1m:24.723, still on the medium tyre. Valtteri would return to the track and would improve with a 1m:25.121 running on the medium tyre. Magnussen would go quickest with a 1m:23.933 running on the super soft tyres. Hamilton would run on the soft tyre setting a 1m:23.967 to be second. With the lunchtime break drawing closer Valtteri had completed forty five laps. On the soft tyre Hamilton would go fastest with a 1m:23.622. Valtteri would complete on further run prior to the lunch break having completed fifty seven laps.

After lunch Valtteri would return to the track lapping in the 1m:30s so it was looking like a high fuel run. He would pit having completed seventy six laps. His next run would see him running on the soft tyre and would move into third with a 1m:24.522. He would return to the pits after just one quick time. Valtteri would reappear on soft's improving with a 1m:24.233. He would again pit but came out again for another run and again would improve with a 1m:24.070. His next run was on super soft's and he would set the quickest time with a 1m:23.261. It would appear that Valtteri had completed several qualifying type runs on the soft tyre. After pitting Valtteri would again reappear on the soft tyre and would complete one hundred laps. With the end of the day he would complete one hundred and eight laps.

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
It’s been another good day for us. It was the last time Valtteri was due to be in the car before he gets in for the race weekend in Melbourne and so it’s important that we covered a lot of the work we have had to do this week - and so far so good. We have done a reasonable number of laps and we did all the tests we had planned for today, so overall it’s been very successful. He is very comfortable in the car and his race engineers are tuning it around his requirements, so we are feeling positive.

Valtteri Bottas:
It’s been another good day. That’s it for me now for testing before we go to Melbourne. I’m feeling prepared and good in the car. I’m glad we have made progress during testing and I’m sure we will do even more before Melbourne. That’s it now for driving from my side. There’s more to follow in the next two days as we will discover more with Felipe. Thanks to everyone in the team for all their hard work over the last two tests and thanks also to Mercedes HPP.

Williams Martini Racing returns tomorrow with Felipe Massa at the wheel of the FW38.

Driver 		  Team 	    	   	Best Time  Best / 
		   				   Total Laps
1.  V. Bottas	  Williams Martini	1:23.261   92 / 108
2.  L. Hamilton	  Mercedes AMG F1 Team	1:23.622   64 / 73
3.  K. Magnussen  Renault Sport F1 Team	1:23.933   40 / 126
4.  S. Vettel	  Ferrari		1:24.611   33 / 151
5.  J. Button	  McLaren		1:25.183   37 / 121
6.  D. Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing	1:25.235   39 / 135
7.  C. Sainz	  Toro Rosso		1:25.300   47 / 166
8.  S. Perez	  Force India F1 Team	1:25.593   127 / 128
9.  N. Rosberg	  Mercedes AMG F1 Team	1:26.298   54 / 91
10. P. Wehrlein	  Manor F1 Team		1:27.064   34 / 79
11. M. Ericsson	  Sauber F1 Team	1.27.487   54 / 55
12. E. Gutierrez  Haas F1 Team	 		   1