Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the fastest man on track on Thursday at the end of the second day of official pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.
Sainz’ best time of 1:29.921s was the fastest of the week so far, putting him 0.758s ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris not far behind the pair.
Perez and Hamilton spent the whole day in their cars and both exceeded 100 laps out on track with 129 and 123 laps respectively. Logan Sargeant also passed the century despite a problem with the front left wheel hub in the final hour.
The afternoon session got underway earlier than originally planned and ran for five hours, after the morning had come to an abrupt early end for track repairs at turn 11 when a drain cover came close and damaged Leclerc’s Ferrari
The damage to the floor of the SF-24 was attended to during the hiatus, and the car was ready for Leclerc to head back out as soon as testing resumed. However he only had 30 minutes in the cockpit before handing over to Carlos Sainz.
Bahrain Pre-Season Test – Day 2
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Tyre | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:29.921s | C4 | 84 |
| 2 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | +0.758s | C3 | 129 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +1.145s | C3 | 123 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +1.335s | C3 | 52 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | +1.490s | C4 | 88 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +1.829s | C3 | 54 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +2.108s | C3 | 96 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +2.140s | C3 | 78 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | +2.306s | C3 | 97 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +2.407s | C3 | 35 |
| 11 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | +2.657s | C4 | 117 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +3.132s | C3 | 31 |
| 13 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | +3.794s | C3 | 38 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +3.883s | C3 | 33 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +6.690s | C3 | 93 |
| 16 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | +7.588s | C3 | 31 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | +8.153s | C2 | 40 |
Other teams made their own arrangements on drivers in lieu of the change in running times, with Red Bull opting to keep Sergio Perez in the RB20 all day rather than changing over to Max Verstappen at lunch.
Lewis Hamilton and Loan Sargeant were also in for an all-day stint, while Esteban Ocon was now in the Alpine, Daniel Ricciardo had taken over the RB, and Lando Norris had taken over the McLaren from Oscar Piastri.
Elsewhere Zhou Guanyu handed over the keys of the Sauber to Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen was now in the Haas, and Lance Stroll got his chance behind the wheel of the AMR24.
Sargeant lost some time as the Williams engineers looked over the FW46 after he ran off at turn 11. McLaren also spent time working on small fuel system issue on the MCL38, costing Norris some track time.
Leclerc’s morning best of 1:31.750s still topped the timings. Hamilton went second fastest with a lap time of 1:32.273s in the Mercedes just over an hour into the session, and Stroll was fourth with a time of 1:32.419s as the track warmed up.
Sainz then moved to the top on 1:31.856s after an hour and a half with Bottas edging his former team mate Hamilton for second. Lagging toward the back, Ocon tried to put in a faster lap but locked up into turn 1 and caught some gravel.
Sainz had been stretching his legs in the Ferrari and his best time of the day was now 1:29.921s, quickest of the week so far. Norris was back in action and second quickest for a spell with a time of 1:31.622s.
That was nearly two seconds quicker than Verstappen’s time on Wednesday. Perez wasn’t showing the same speed, and had a worrying moment halfway through the session when the Red Bull slowed and limped back to pit lane.
Whatever the issue it was soon resolved and Perez was back out again shortly thereafter, going third quickest with a time of 1:31.461s as the sun started to set and the floodlights began to take over.
With a full day on track, Perez, Hamilton and Sargeant all passed the one hundred lap mark. That was a particular relief for the Williams team after their glitch-prone experience on Wednesday, but there was a problem with the front left wheel hub of the FW46 costing them track time in the final hour.
In the final hour, Hamilton moved up to P2 behind Sainz with a time of 1:31.066s but was then bumped to third by an improved time from Perez of 1:30.684.s.
The session concluded with a ten minute Virtual Safety Car test before the chequered flag meant the teams had to put away their toys for the evening, with one last day of testing remaining on Friday.
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Bahrain test day 2: Sainz puts Ferrari firmly at the top F1i.com.
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