The second day of pre-season testing for the 2020 campaign saw one incredible innovation from Mercedes
The second day of F1 2020 pre-season testing got underway with 13 drivers taking to the circuit.
Mercedes dominated the first day but things were different for the Silver Arrows with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton finished the day 9th while Bottas was 13th and last, however, that shouldn’t be an issue as this is just testing.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez ended in a great second place and posted a time which was just two-tenths off the top spot.
Sebastian Vettel also got his first taste of the SF1000 Ferrari as he missed the first day of pre-season testing.
His teammate, Charles Leclerc was eighth on the day while Vettel finished in sixth place. The star of the show, however, was Kimi Raikkonen.
As talking points go, this was quite a big one…#F1Testing pic.twitter.com/SNLY4oJqSp
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 20, 2020
The Alfa Romeo star ended the day with the fastest time and clocked up a mammoth 134 laps. Perez was second in the timings sheet while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo impressed by finishing third.
Alex Albon also got a taste of his Red Bull and winged his way to fourth place, eight-tenths off the top of the charts.
Mercedes blow everyone away
Although the Silver Arrows were at the bottom of the field, it was their ‘DAS’ (Dual Axis Steering) that got everyone talking.
Basically, this allows the driver to pull and push the steering wheel which changes the ‘toe’ (angle of the front wheels).
Kimi on top at the end of day 2️⃣#F1Testing pic.twitter.com/QZFrFj9ty6
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 20, 2020
This, in theory, should help in evenly distributing heat around the wheels when going into a corner and also on the straights.
It should increase the tyre life and performance too, but the timings didn’t reflect that.
F1 pre-season testing, results and timings
The other top performers on the day were Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri (5th) and George Russell (7th).
Lando Norris got his first taste of the MCL 35 but the McLaren star finished the day in 10th place with 137 laps under his belt.
Roman Grosjean and Esteban Ocon were the others at the tail-end of the grid. However, Grosjean racked up an impressive 158 laps, the most on day two, in his Haas.
The first segment of pre-season testing finishes on 21 February and then there will be three more days of testing before the first race of the season.
The F1 pre-season testing stream is available on F1 TV and the Formula One website while updates are consistently shared on their social media handles.
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