Alfa Romeo’s reserve driver Robert Kubica has topped the times on the opening morning of the second pre-season test in Barcelona.

Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica has gone quickest on the opening morning of the second pre-season test in Barcelona. The Polish driver, scheduled to run for the morning session, set a 1:16.942 on the soft C4 compound in the final hour prior to the lunchtime break. He completed 50 laps in total during the morning.

This time was good enough to stay more than half a second clear at the top as the chequered flag fell for the mandatory lunchtime break. Alex Albon was P2 for Red Bull Racing, having missed most of the morning running as the team carried out suspension changes on his RB16. Emerging from the garage with an hour remaining in the session, Albon quickly racked up 22 laps and did a 1:17.550 on the C2 compound.

Lewis Hamilton was P3 for Mercedes. Having been first man out on track as the session began, the reigning Champion did a 1:17.562 to slot in just 0.012 behind Albon and also set his best time on the C2 tyre.

Pierre Gasly was P4, despite being another driver to miss most of the morning. The French driver spent the morning in the garage due to a loose pipe on his Alpha Tauri, resulting in his power unit needing to be disconnected. However, he made up for the lost time by putting in 22 laps once he got on track, and did 1:17.773 on the C4.

Lance Stroll briefly was fastest man on track for Racing Point, but fell down to P5 on the timing screens by lunchtime. He did a best time of 1:17.787 and a total of 41 laps during the morning test.

Sebastian Vettel did a time good enough for P6, but briefly brought out the red flags when he spun at Turn 8 midway through the morning. Running wide through the corner, he lost the rear of the SF1000 as he drove over the gravel and ended up facing the wrong way in a big cloud of dust. However, he was able to recover and get back to the pits.

There was also a brief red flag for William’s Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian driver ground to a halt driving down the back straight with two hours remaining in the morning, and had to pull over to the side of the track to await recovery.

Developing report…

Click here for the complete latest results from Test 2 – Day 1.