Lewis Hamilton made an unexpected return for Mercedes in Barcelona on Friday and posted the fifth fastest time of the day, despite running on slower, medium tyres.
He was only 0.349 seconds slower than the pacesetter, Daniel Ricciardo, whose Red Bull was shod with the faster soft tyres on the second day of testing for the Formula One season at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Hamilton, the world champion, had recovered from the fever that curtailed his running on Thursday and replaced his team-mate Nico Rosberg in the afternoon, when he completed 89 laps. That allowed Rosberg a precautionary rest as he recovers from a trapped nerve in his neck.
“I’ve felt better but I miss driving so I wanted to get in the car,” said Hamilton.
“It’s been good today to get out there and get some laps in. I’m not sure wherewe stand compared to the others. The first test was just about completing loads of laps and today was the same, so I’ve not really started dialing the car into how I’d like to perfect it.
“Quick laps are for Saturday in qualifying. But it feels good - similar to last year but better. We’re just focused on our own job - getting lots and lots of miles on the car, proving everything out and making the most of the time we have before the season starts. We’ve not been without a few problems here and there but I’ve seen the team working away to iron out any creases and it’s just amazing to watch. As long as we keep moving forwards that’s what matters most and we’re focused on doing that.”
But the happiest teams on Friday evening were Red Bull and McLaren-Honda. Red Bull were restricted to short runs on Thursday but on the second day Ricciardo completed 142 laps including the one that put him on top of the time sheets with 1min 24.57sec.
McLaren’s Jenson Button also had a difficult opening day, with an engine seal problem, following the team’s lack of running in the opening test in Jerez this month. But on Friday his team-mate Fernando Alonso completed 59 laps and finished with the seventh best time of the day.
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) was second fastest, ahead of Felipe Massa (Williams) and Sergio Pérez (Force India). Rosberg, who drove 66 laps in the morning, was sixth fastest, between Hamilton and Alonso.
Britain’s GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer had the eighth fastest time driving a Lotus, ahead of Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso).
The rehabilitation of the Manor Formula One team continued to make progress with the announcement that Ferrari will continue to supply their power units, even though they are owed £16.5m by the outfit formally known as Marussia.
The team are due to come out of administration in the next few days and are still hopeful of racing, despite being told by the F1 Strategy Group that they could not run their 2014 car. They are being backed by a investment group led by the former Sainsbury chief executive Justin King.
Ferrari’s team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, said: “We said to them we’re going to supply them with the 2014 engine. There’s nothing in writing at the moment but the answer at the moment is yes.”
If Manor do return in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix on 19 April they will receive £30m in prize money following Jules Bianchi’s ninth place in Monaco in May.
