F1 testing report: Kimi Raikkonen completes Wednesday programme with Alfa Romeo’s best time of the week. Kimi Raikkonen completes Wednesday programme.

Another successful testing session for Alfa Romeo Racing on Wednesday, in the second day of the last testing period ahead of the 2019 Formula One season. 113 laps completed by Kimi Raikkonen, who didn’t encounter any problems and could finalize the schduled programme for the day. In the final stages of the afternoon session Kimi Raikkonen catapulted his Alfa Romeo up the standings with a 1:18.209 to put him ahead of Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen in fourth overall. That time from Kimi Raikkonen is Alfa Romeo’s best of the week so far, posting it on the Compound 4 tyre.

Sainz Jr. clocked a time of 1:17.144, using Pirelli’s C4s, during the morning session – the fastest of pre-season so far – to put McLaren on top at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Daniil Kvyat was seventh for Toro Rosso while Mercedes again shied away from headline-grabbing times; Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were eighth and ninth respectively.

Mercedes nonetheless racked up 175 laps between its race drivers as it continued to evaluate its revised W10.

Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo placed 10th and 12th respectively for Renault, split by Williams’ Robert Kubica, who received his first proper taste of the squad’s FW42 after last week’s truncated running. Kubica was one of the day’s most productive drivers as he added to George Russell’s encouraging Tuesday mileage, finishing 11th, just over two seconds behind Sainz Jr.

Thursday’s penultimate day of testing will begin at 09:00 local time.

Here are the final standings from day two of the second test:

1) Carlos Sainz, McLaren, 1:17.144, 130 laps

2) Sergio Perez, Racing Point, 1:17.842, 88 laps

3) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:18.195, 40 laps

4) Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, 1:18.209, 113 laps

5) Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:18.330, 120 laps

6) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:18.395, 128 laps

7) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:18.682, 101 laps

8) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:18.941, 74 laps

9) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:18.943, 102 laps

10) Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1:19.056, 58 laps

11) Robert Kubica, Williams, 1:19.367, 130 laps

12) Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, 1:22.597, 72 laps

13) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, no time set, 1 lap