BARCELONA, Spain — Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the pace in the second day of preseason testing at the Circuit de Catalunya as hype continued to build around the performance of the Italian team.
A clear favourite has yet to emerge from the first F1 test of 2022, with teams focusing on gaining a better understanding of their cars before switching to the pursuit of outright performance later in the preseason.
However, Ferrari’s presence either at or near the top of the timesheets on both days of this week’s test has created a buzz around the team.
Leclerc’s lap, a 1:19.698, was the fastest on Thursday but just shy of the fastest time set by McLaren’s Lando Norris on the opening day of the test.
Comparing the two, Leclerc’s time was arguably the more impressive, being set on the third lap of a 17-lap run, suggesting he was on a relatively heavy fuel load. He also used the C3…
