Vettel ends day 1 of 2nd test fastest, McLaren struggles

Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari to the top of the timesheets on the opening day of the second Formula 1 pre-season test in Barcelona as McLaren completed fewer laps than any other team, suffering three on-track stoppages.

Vettel was able to turn in a fastest lap time of 1:20.396 to finish two-tenths of a second clear of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas in the final classification, completing his fastest lap on the medium compound tyre for Ferrari.

Despite finishing one second off Lewis Hamilton's fastest lap from the opening week of testing, Vettel focused mainly on long runs behind the wheel of the Ferrari SF71H, completing a mammoth 167 laps - over 2.5 race distances.

Mercedes split its running between Bottas and Hamilton, with the Briton taking over in the afternoon en route to P4 overall. He finished one-tenth of a second back from Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who enjoyed a successful day barring one stoppage while on an outlap, with an issue forcing him to park up at Turn 1.

There were three further red flags through the day, two of which were caused by McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne. After suffering an early electrical issue that caused Vandoorne to stop halfway down the pit lane after his first installation lap of the day, a repeat of the problem sparked a red flag at 10 a.m.. 

Vandoorne was forced to stop with two hours left in the day due to a hydraulic problem, bringing his day to an early end with just 38 laps on the board.

Former engine partner Honda failed to get in much running in the afternoon as Toro Rosso investigated a problem on its car, but Pierre Gasly was still able to manage 54 laps in total en route to fifth place overall behind Hamilton.

Despite an ERS component issue limiting running, Haas completed 87 laps with Kevin Magnussen as he finished sixth-fastest ahead of the Renault pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. Sergey Sirotkin was ninth for Williams ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez.

Sauber broke into triple digits with Marcus Ericsson behind the wheel of the C37 car, finishing 1.3 seconds off the pace in P11 ahead of Vandoorne. Lance Stroll propped up the running order after completing the afternoon session for Williams, racking up 82 laps.

Pre-season testing continues in Barcelona on Wednesday, starting at 9 a.m. local time.