Jules Bianchi set the fastest time for Ferrari on the second day of the third in-season test at Silverstone.

Marussia racer Bianchi tested for Ferrari after the team opted to rest Kimi Räikkönen for this week’s running, following the Finn’s large accident during the British Grand Prix.

Bianchi set a time of 1:35.262 during the final couple of hours to eclipse morning pace setter Daniil Kvyat by 0.282s.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen was third, 0.331s behind Bianchi, and completed 91 laps in the MP4-29, the most of any of the runners.

Giedo van der Garde returned to the cockpit of the Sauber C33 and set the fourth fastest lap time. He did, however, bring out the red flags with 20 minutes of the session remaining when he crashed on the exit of Copse.

Van der Garde caused damage to the barriers, so the session was halted and not re-started.

Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult start to his day after spinning off on cold tyres on his fifth lap. The Brit ended up facing backwards in the gravel at Stowe, bringing out the red flags.

He spent most of the remainder of the morning in the Mercedes garage but returned to the circuit in the afternoon and set the fifth fastest time.

Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Williams, ahead of Force India reserve Daniel Juncadella and Marussia’s Max Chilton.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, who spent much of the day tyre testing with Pirelli, was ninth fastest.

Pirelli unveiled its 18 inch concept tyre, which the Italian company could supply to Formula 1 in the future.

The sport currently uses 13 inch tyres but Pirelli has produced a concept tyre to demonstrate what 18 inch tyres would look like on a Formula 1 machine.

The tyres were unveiled in the pit lane before Charles Pic took to the track in the Lotus E22. The Frenchman was nine seconds off the pace after completing just a handful of laps.

Pic returned to the circuit later in the day on the normal 13 inch tyres following a minor car problem.

Julian Leal’s Formula 1 test debut was disrupted after his Caterham developed an electrical issue after just one lap. Caterham spent a significant chunk of the day fixing the problem but the Colombian GP2 driver returned to the circuit and completed 50 laps. Rio Haryanto, who was meant to share driving duties with Leal, did not drive the car.