Bahrain Testing Day 2: Sainz half a second ahead of Verstappen

The second day of testing in Bahrain comes to an end, and it’s the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz that makes a strong impression by setting the fastest time of the day. The Spaniard completed a reference lap in 1:33.532 on C4 tires. His teammate Charles Leclerc finished a bit further back in sixth position, 0.8s behind Sainz. The Ferrari team had a good day, covering over 110 laps.

Behind, it’s the world champion Max Verstappen who set the second fastest time. The Dutch driver, on a qualifying simulation lap, was unable to get within half a second of Sainz with the same tires. With his number 1, Verstappen completed 86 laps throughout the day without experiencing any technical issues.

His main rival, Lewis Hamilton, was on track this afternoon. The British driver, on the super soft tires (C5), set the fourth fastest time, just a tenth of a second behind Verstappen, but it’s the surprising design of his W13 that is making people talk.

Between the two championship favorites, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin has slipped in. The Canadian did not encounter the same troubles as his teammate Sebastian Vettel in the morning and was able to complete 70 laps.

Best time of the morning, Esteban Ocon dropped back to fifth place at the end of the day. The Frenchman experienced a problem that forced him to stop on the track. Nothing serious as the winner of the last Hungarian Grand Prix was able to quickly get back on track and finish the day with over 100 laps. Things seem to be improving for Alpine.

On the other hand, for McLaren, the struggle continues. Ricciardo is still ill, so it was once again Lando Norris who drove the MCL36 for the day. The young Briton experienced the same brake overheating issues as yesterday, and a technical incident at the pit exit disrupted his end of the day. While the team awaits new parts quickly, Norris was only able to complete 60 laps throughout the day.

The situation is even worse for Williams, who couldn’t drive in the afternoon after the car of Nicholas Latifi caught fire this morning. Only twelve short laps today for the English team.

The only rookie on the track, Guanyu Zhou, followed his program without any issues this afternoon and completed fifty laps, while a hydraulic leak had disrupted Valtteri Bottas’ plans in the morning. No problems either for AlphaTauri, Yuki Tsunoda is the one who drove the most with 120 laps throughout the day.

One year later, he was back in a Formula 1 car. Kevin Magnussen drove the Haas this afternoon. The Danish driver set the ninth fastest time and completed 39 laps to familiarize himself with the car. He continued to drive for an hour after the end of the session to make up for the team’s late arrival in Bahrain.

The ranking of Day 2 in Bahrain