BARCELONA, Spain – Despite causing a red flag in the morning session by spinning off track at turn 12 and getting stuck in the gravel, Nikita Mazepin set fast time on the second day of Formula One testing in Barcelona.

The Russian rookie completed 128 laps in his Mercedes F1 W10, setting a fast time of 1:15.775, over a second clear of Alexander Albon’s 1:17.079 in the Toro Rosso.

Mazepin was using the C5 tire – the softest tire offered by Pirelli – and was only slightly over a quarter second behind the time set by Valtteri Bottas on the same tire compound on Tuesday.

That left Mazepin very pleased with his performance in testing.

“Today was incredible,” said Mazepin. “Being a part of this team, even just for this day, was very special for me. It’s every young driver’s dream to drive a car like this and today mine came true, so I’m really happy.”

The Mercedes team appeared equally happy with Mazpein’s testing performance, despite his brief off-track excursion.

“It’s been another successful day here in Barcelona and we managed to complete all of the programme we had planned,” said Mercedes Sporting Director Ron Meadows. “He (Mazepin) did a really superb job today, just as we expected he would.”

Antonio Fuoco was third for Ferrari in his first appearance with the Italian team since 2015, with regular Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc fourth-quick overall as part of a Pirelli compound test.

Kimi Raikkonen completed the top five on the speed charts for Alfa Romeo.