SILVERSTONE, Great Britain -- Esteban Ocon set the fastest time on the second morning of testing at Silverstone, making good use of his time in the championship-leading Mercedes W07 to complete 59 laps before the lunch break.
Ocon is Renault's reserve driver but is contracted to Mercedes long-term and drives for the German brand in DTM. His second day at the wheel saw him use the soft tyres for the first time this test, resulting in a best lap of 1:31.212 -- beating Fernando Alonso's best time on Tuesday by a fraction of a second. He finished the morning session 1.518s clear of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari on medium tyres as the Finn completed 35 laps and set the second fastest time overall.
GP2 driver Pierre Gasly completed a second day at the wheel of the Red Bull as the team continues to evaluate him as a possible replacement for Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso next year. Gasly's best time on the medium tyres was 0.066s quicker than Renault regular Jolyon Palmer on the softs, who in turn was just 0.003s quicker than Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren on softs.
American 18-year-old Santino Ferrucci was back in the Haas for a second day of testing after making his debut on Tuesday. He was let loose on soft tyres ahead of the lunch break to improve on his best time on Tuesday by 0.9s with a 1:33.934. Russian 17-year-old Nikita Mazepin is also making his F1 debut this week and set a 1:34.553 in the Force India to go seventh fastest overall. A third F1 testing rookie, Brazilian Sergio Sette Camara, was eighth fastest on his first day in the Toro Rosso, improving just before lunch despite a spin earlier in the session as he exited the final corner with just under an hour to go.
Pascal Wehrlein returned to the track in Mercedes' 2014 car as he continued his testing programme with tyre supplier Pirelli. The blind test involves work on 2017 construction materials and compounds before Pirelli's new wider prototype tyres hit the track for the first time next month.
Valtteri Bottas and Jordan King both stuck to using the medium tyres and were 10th and 11th fastest as they appeared to focus on longer runs.