Red Bull hopeful Daniel Ricciardo was first and third on the timesheets at the end of the second day of testing at Silverstone, thanks to a split programme that saw the Australian running for Toro Rosso in the morning and Red Bull in the afternoon.

The morning’s running was interrupted by a red flag brought out by the spinning Sauber of Robin Frijns, who managed to avoid causing major damage to his car during the incident at Luffield. In the afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg took over and spent the rest of the day testing tyres.

Another race driver taking to the track this morning was Pastor Maldonado, who completed 71 laps of tyre testing for Williams before handing over to Daniel Juncadella.

Davide Rigon and James Calado were back testing for Ferrari and Force India respectively. Calado had set the pace on Wednesday morning, and the Briton improved on his second day behind the wheel. Slightly faster still was Oliver Turvey, who finished Wednesday fifth on the timesheets, with 97 laps under his belt for McLaren.

At the end of the morning’s running it was Ricciardo who topped the timesheets for Toro Rosso with a 1m32.972s lap. The Australian was back on track testing for Red Bull in the afternoon, effectively auditioning for the role of Mark Webber’s replacement. It did not get off to the smoothest of starts; Ricciardo found himself in the gravel at Luffield early on, but the rest of the afternoon passed without incident.

In the morning Ricciardo was testing the new Pirelli tyre construction for his current team, and as a consequence was restricted to a tyre testing programme. Taking over from the Australian in the afternoon was Carlos Sainz Jr., who completed 39 laps and ended the day second on the timesheets, with a fastest lap of 1m36.016s  that saw the Toro Rosso junior sandwiched between Ricciardo’s times for both teams.

Davide Valsecchi impressed for Lotus, finishing in fourth with a best time of 1m34.554s after 91 laps. Slightly less impressive was the much celebrated Antonio Felix da Costa, who had the disadvantage of running only in the morning, second on the timesheets at the lunch break but down in seventh when the day’s running was complete.

Also testing today were Will Stevens, who managed 13th for Caterham after 98 laps of running with a best time of 1m36.082s; Paul di Resta, who was 14th with a 1m36.016s after an afternoon spent doing more tyre evaluation; and Rodolfo Gonzalez, testing for Marussia. The Venezuelan managed a fastest lap of 1m37.949s after a long day behind the wheel that saw Gonzalez complete 92 laps of Silverstone.

Testing resumes at 9am (BST) on Friday 19 July.

YDT times (unofficial)

1. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1m32.972s [48 laps]
2. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Toro Rosso) 1m36.016s [39 laps]
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1m33.187s [59 laps]
4. Davide Valsecchi (Lotus) 1m34.554s [91 laps]
5. Oliver Turvey (McLaren) 1m33.864s [97 laps]
6. James Calado (Force India) 1m33.957s [47 laps]
7. Antonio Felix da Costa (Red Bull) 1m33.958s [19 laps]
8. Davide Rigon (Ferrari) 1m34.053s [97 laps]
9. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) 1m34.116s [71 laps]
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1m34.224s [52 laps]
11. Daniel Juncadella (Williams) 1m34.631s [33 laps]
12. Robin Frijns (Sauber) 1m34.731s [17 laps]
13. Will Stevens (Caterham) 1m36.082s [98 laps]
14. Paul di Resta (Force India) 1m36.356s [41 laps]
15. Rodolfo Gonzalez (Marussia) 1m37.949s [92 laps]