Long Runs the Order of the Day...

Day two of testing saw Felipe Massa pick up from where he left off yesterday. He set the day’s fastest time and was the only driver to lap the Valencian circuit in under 72 seconds.

The Ferrari looked quick and consistent and sent out another early sign that it will be there or thereabouts this year. The only cautionary thing I would add to this is that his time was set in the morning and no one really tried to beat it this afternoon – the majority of the teams focussed on long, heavy fuel runs.

Indeed, this may go some way to explaining why the Sauber again finished as the second best car in the field (Kobayashi also set his best time in the morning). Their form is really surprising me and I would like to know how their long runs were comparing to the others to get a clearer indication as to whether this pace is genuine or just sponsor hunting.

Lewis Hamilton was next up – taking the number 2 car for its first spin. He improved massively upon Paffett’s time of yesterday and seemed happy with the package as a whole. Apparently the performance is replicating what the wind tunnel data was saying which is reason to be positive – even if the luminous paint did leave an unconvincing note and memories of last year.

Kubica spent most of the day down the timesheets – concentrating on long runs – but make a late show to pip Rosberg for 4th. I hope that this isn’t the limit of the Renault’s pace because it wasn’t close enough to the Ferrari if that is the case. More worryingly, he caused the session to end a few minutes early when he stopped on the start/finish straight.

Rosberg seemed to complete a pretty comprehensive day, nothing spectacular but in the mix.

Barrichello was very high on fuel apparently, all day, and so was nowhere near the front – for Williams’s sake I hope this is true and not just an excuse for poor performance.

Finally, the Toro Rosso, cured of its gearbox problem that blighted yesterday ran solidly but obviously not anywhere near the top.

1 Felipe Massa  Ferrari F10 1:11.722  124 laps
2 Kamui Kobayashi  Sauber C29 1:12.056  96 laps
3 Lewis Hamilton  McLaren MP4-25 1:12.256  108 laps
4 Robert Kubica  Renault R30 1:12.426  119 laps

5 Nico Rosberg  Mercedes MGPW01 1:12:899  119 laps

6 Rubens Barrichello  Williams FW32 1:13.377  102 laps
7 Sebastien Buemi  Toro Rosso STR5 1:13.823  107 laps

A fairly unspectacular day really, with the focus more on doing the distance than out and out speed. Tomorrow will see world champions Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso join the party as well as a full day in the car for Schumi.

For now though, the headline is all Massa’s and he is the driver of the day for the second day running.