Barcelona F1 test: Bottas sets quickest 2017 time yet

Valtteri Bottas was fastest in the second morning session of the final week of 2017 Formula 1 pre-season testing, setting the quickest time of the winter so far.

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team RS17

Esteban Ocon, Force India VJM10, leads Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W08

After a low-key Tuesday for the Mercedes team, Bottas catapulted the reigning champion outfit to the head of times on Wednesday with a 1m19.310s on supersoft tyres, a time that came just over two and a half hours into the session.

That was a full 0.395s clear of the Finnish driver's best time from the first week of testing, which was set using the ultrasoft compound.

Tuesday pacesetter Felipe Massa enjoyed another strong morning, and ended up second fastest – just 0.110s shy in the Williams of his former teammate Bottas, albeit using ultrasofts.

Bottas and Massa also led the way on mileage as well as speed, logging 69 and 63 laps respectively before handing over to teammates Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll for the afternoon.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest on a 1m20.406s set on soft tyres, his best time following a two-hour spell in the garage while the Italian team carried out a 'fluid systems check'.

That restricted the former champion to 38 laps, the least of all bar Red Bull driver Max Verstappen – who was fourth fastest on softs, 0.026s behind Raikkonen – and Fernando Alonso.

Although the McLaren driver avoided a repeat of the power unit troubles that plagued teammate Stoffel Vandoorne on Tuesday, he managed only 27 laps in the MCL32.

Nico Hulkenberg completed the top five thanks to a best effort of 1m21.213s on supersofts, less than a tenth clear of Sergio Perez, who used the supersofts in the dying stages to vault to sixth.

That demoted the soft-shod Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz to seventh, ahead of Romain Grosjean (Haas), Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber) and Alonso, who was 3.731s off the pace using softs.

Day 2 morning times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	V. Bottas	Mercedes	1:19.310		69
2	F. Massa	Williams	1:19.420	0.110	63
3	K. Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:20.406	1.096	38
4	M. Verstappen	Red Bull	1:20.432	1.122	34
5	N. Hülkenberg	Renault	1:21.213	1.903	60
6	S. Pérez	Force India	1:21.297	1.987	49
7	C. Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:21.872	2.562	44
8	R. Grosjean	Haas	1:22.428	3.118	53
9	P. Wehrlein	Sauber	1:23.000	3.690	58
10	F. Alonso	McLaren	1:23.041	3.731	27