It was a day of contrasts at the Circuit de Catalunya; a morning which culminated in an intense shoot-out between Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen was followed by an afternoon of race simulations. McLaren, having appeared yesterday to finally have its various issues under control, today succumbing to yet another leak.

Between them the eight drivers on duty completed 1,010 laps, only two of them, Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton, failing to reach the magic one hundred.

Just twenty-four hours after its launch, the Force India VJM08 completed 158 laps, and had it not been for two late red flags it could have been far more. An impressive performance from the Silverstone-based outfit.

The red flags, for Marcus Ericsson and Carlos Sainz, both came within the final thirty-five minutes of the session, both drivers having already completed an impressive number of laps.

Whilst the day got off to a chilly start, as the temperature rose so too did the pace. Sadly, Mercedes ended its morning's running early, the German team focussing on "experimental setup changes", so Hamilton could only watch as Raikkonen and Massa fought for the top spot, first on the soft rubber, then the supersofts.

Going into the lunch-break Massa lead the way, with Raikkonen just 0.14s off the pace.

Ibn the afternoon, while most focussed on race simulations, which meant few improvements in terms of lap times, Hamilton was late reappearing. However, when he did he soon switched to the soft rubber - not supersoft - and silenced the pretenders with a 23.022. Neither can nor driver broke sweat.

Other than high mileage, there was impressive pace from the rest of the field, even if there is already a clear order forming in terms of Mercedes, Williams and Ferrari, then the rest.

Sadly, after yesterday's 101 laps with Jenson Button, it was back down to earth with an almighty bang for McLaren, Kevin Magnussen side-lined after just 39 laps. Then again that's 32 more than the Briton managed on Thursday.

"An oil leak has stopped play, so that's a wrap for today," said the Woking team.

"We'll be back tomorrow for more," they added, surely only the coldest heart would have added the word "punishment".

Williams also packed up early, but this was due to having completed its programme as opposed to a technical issue. A luxury its Woking rivals can only dream of.

"And that's day two finished or us and Felipe Massa's winter test programme completed," said the team. "Next stop Melbourne."

There's still one day of testing before Melbourne, and providing the weather gods look down on us kindly, we could be in for some serious action tomorrow with some finally showing their full hands... not just the fingertips.

Today's schedule for Hamilton consisted of aero evaluation work in the morning, followed by setup analysis and performance tests in the afternoon. Emerging for his first run at 09:05, Hamilton completed 36 laps before lunch and a further 40 after the break.

"It wasn't a particularly spectacular day," said the world champion. "The track seems to have lost a bit of grip in the last few days so the feeling wasn't as good. But I'm still glad we got some running done and I feel good in the car. We were trying to understand a few things today with the set up and it gave us a clearer indication of that in the afternoon.

"The guys in the team have been exceptional during these tests and I just can't wait to get racing now - the fun stuff!"

"It was Felipe's last day in the car before Melbourne and we have had a busy day," said Rod Nelson, Williams chief test & support engineer. "We focused on chassis and aero work as well as longer runs on scrubbed tyres to see the degradation and tyre performance. We did a grid simulation at lunchtime to ensure the procedural processes are all in place for when we arrive in Melbourne. We have just one day of the test left now, and it will be another busy one for the team.

"We had another good day with over 100 laps completed," added Massa. "We reached the end of the programme in good time and the car has remained very reliable over all three tests. Our long runs look positive and the car remains consistent throughout the stints.

"We are not the only quick car on the track though and the fight behind Mercedes will be interesting. I now have to get ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne, which I am really looking forward to."