By Sam Cooper
February 2 2008

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes formula one team have completed the second day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in western Spain. Race drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were in action today, setting 3rd and 4th best lap times -01:22.135 and 01:22.511, respectively. Fastest on the second day was Sebastian Vettel in the STR02B.

Finishing the second day fastest was Sebastian Vettel who was driving the updated STR02B; the German completed an impressive 89 laps of the 4.6KM circuit. His team-mate, Sebastian Bourdais, followed him home in second place, just a tenth of a second behind.

Lewis Hamilton ended the second day in 3rd place, the best part of half a second behind pacesetter Vettel. Hamilton’s team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, finished four tenths behind in 4th place. Reports are circulating around the internet that a grandstand in front of the McLaren garage had to be closed, due to abuse being given to Ron Dennis and the rest of the McLaren team by Spanish fans.

BMW driver Robert Kubica and Renault driver Fernando Alonso finished in 5th and 6th places respectively, with Alonso’s team-mate, Nelson Piquet Jr, finishing just less than a tenth of a second behind Fernando. In 8th position was BMW Nick Heidfeld, who focused his attention. In 9th was Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who was testing a radical new engine cover with David Coulthard in the second RB4, who finished in 10th place.

Times are shown below.