Once again, the Spaniard was one of the drivers who stayed out on the track the most, lapping the Ricardo Tormo circuit 108 times for a best time of 1:13.307. Needless to say, the day was again a success for the Italian team, who encountered no problems whatsoever on their F150 challenger.
“I am happy with the work we did today,” said Alonso after Day 2 of the Valencia test. “Yesterday we concentrated mainly on the systems on the car, on checking that everything was okay, while on this second day we were able to go deeper into our understanding of its behaviour, even with different fuel loads, making the first changes to the set-up.”
Alonso will return to the cockpit of his F150 next week, when the Jerez test kicks off, as it will be his teammate Felipe Massa who will end Ferrari's testing programme in Valencia on Thursday.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel completed his second day in Valencia some 0.307 seconds behind Alonso, while only doing 43 laps. Midway through the Wednesday action, he and teammate Mark Webber swapped placed inside the RB7, the latter managing to complete some 16 laps for a best time of 1:17.365.
Force India's Paul di Resta and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton both took on interim versions of their 2011 cars to end up in 3rd and 4th respectively, while Renault climbed some positions in the overall standings (as compared to Day 1), with Robert Kubica taking 5th place. However, the Pole was still more than one second off pace throughout the day.
Following his troubled Day 1 in Valencia, Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg was finally able to do some laps with the new W02, ending the day in 6th place (despite having to once again stop his car on the track midway through the session), ahead of Virgin's Timo Glock, Williams' Rubens Barrichello (who stalled his car on the track after the first hour), Sauber's Sergio Perez and Williams' Pastor Maldonado.
Heikki Kovalainen was hoping for a productive first day at the wheel of his Lotus T128, but the car encountered some steering problems that kept the Finn to a total of 15 laps through the entire day.
01. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:13.307
02. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) 1:13.614
03. Paul Di Resta (Force India Mercedes) 1:13.844
04. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) 1:14.353
05. Robert Kubica (Renault) 1:14.412
06. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:14.645
07. Timo Glock (Virgin Cosworth) 1:15.408
08. Rubens Barrichello (Williams Cosworth) 1:16.023
09. Sergio Perez Sauber (Ferrari) 1:16.198
10. Pastor Maldonado (Williams Cosworth) 1:16.266
11. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso Ferrari) 1:16.359
12. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso Ferrari) 1:16.474
13. Mark Webber (Red Bull Renault) 1:17.365
14. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT Cosworth) 1:17.769
15. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Renault) 1:20.649
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