Sergio Perez🎃 set the pace on the morning of the second day of Formula 1 pre-season testing as a new steering wheel innovation adopted by Mercedes caused a stir.

The💛 Racing Point driver topped the timesheets on a 1m17.347s, 0.402s clear of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in second spot on another drama-free morning of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

But the talk in the Barcelona paddock on the second morning of the opening test was foc✨used around an intriguing new steering mode deb𒊎uted by Mercedes with its steering wheel.

Onboard footage from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes appeared to show his steering column moving backwards and forwards as he drove on the straights and on the entry to corne𒐪rs.

The adjustable system, which is believed to be manually-operated by the driver inside the cockpit, appeared to change the toe angle of the front wheels along the straight and in th𒈔e corners.

Such a solution is understood to reduce drag on the straights and 𝐆provide greater stability in the corner﷽s by enhancing grip levels, potentially improving performance if successful.

Alexander Albon was third-quickest and eight-tenths off the pace on his first appearance for Red Bull as he got his initial taste of running in the team’s RB16 challenger, racking up a 𒁏total of🐬 59 laps.

The man he replaced at Red Bull, Pierre Gasly, was just 0.010s slower for thꦕe rebranded AlphaTauri squad in fourth, with George Russell rounding out the top five in what was another encouraging session for Williams in its bid to recover from a miserable 2019 campa♌ign.

Charles Leclerc was just shಌy of a half-century of laps as he continued to conduct Ferrari’s winter test programme, before handing over to teammate Sebastian Vettel in the afternoon. The German is the only driver yet to feature in 2020 testing after sitting out the opening day through illness.

After Mercedes grabbed the headlines with a dominant showing on the first day of runni⛎ng, Hamilton was a steady sꦿeventh in the order but chalked up a remarkable 106 laps to add to the reigning world champions’ already-impressive mileage log.

Behind Hamilto♋n came Romain Grosjea𓂃n, Kimi Raikkonen and Lando Norris, all of whom were in action for the first time during testing for their respective teams Haas, Alfa Romeo and McLaren.

A few driver swaps are expected during t📖he lunch break, with Valtteri Bottas set to complete Mercedes’ afternoon running, while Esteban Ocon will return to the Renault cockpit to takeover from teammate Ricciardo.

The sec♒ond day of pre-season testing resumeꦑs at 1400 hours local time (1300 GMT).