Quiet Bahrain Test Day 2: Sainz Tops, Leclerc’s Issue

Day 2 of F1 winter testing in Bahrain saw Carlos Sainz lead, despite a quieter session and a mishap for Charles Leclerc due to a drain cover. Teams prepare for the final test day.

The second of the three days of F1 winter testing in Bahrain concluded after a quieter second half-day session lasting 5 hours. Indeed, the mid-day break came after 3 hours of running, due to a drain cover damaging Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Nevertheless, Ferrari had a productive day with Carlos Sainz topping the timesheets with a lap of 1’29″921 on C4 soft tires. The Spaniard edged out Sergio Pérez, who mostly ran on C3 tires throughout the day and completed both half-day sessions due to reduced track time this morning, accumulating a total of 124 laps.

Hamilton Third, McLaren Issues, Ferrari Dominates Test Day

Lewis Hamilton finished third ahead of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. It’s worth mentioning that the day was disappointing for the McLaren driver, with a mechanical issue confining him to the garage for part of the afternoon. Charles Leclerc is in sixth place, and Ferrari was the most prolific team on track with a combined total of 135 laps from both drivers over the day.

Lance Stroll is next, with the highest personal tally for a driver in a half-day session, at 91 laps. Esteban Ocon is ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Oscar Piastri, then Logan Sargeant, whose Williams nearly reached 120 laps, reassuring for the team that had the least amount of running yesterday.

Fernando Alonso, who ran significantly less than Stroll, is 12th ahead of Guanyu Zhou, Pierre Gasly, the Haas drivers, and Yuki Tsunoda, who had the highest total in the morning.

Testing will resume tomorrow at 8 am for the final day ahead of next week’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which will take place from Thursday to Saturday.

Day two leaderboard

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time	Laps
01	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari SF-24	1:29.921	84
02	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Honda RBPT RB20	1:30.679	129
03	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes W15	1:31.066	123
04	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes MCL38	1:31.256	52
05	Daniel Ricciardo	RB Honda RBPT VCARB 01	1:31.361	88
06	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari SF-24	1:31.750	54
07	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Mercedes AMR24	1:32.029	96
08	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault A524	1:32.061	78
09	Valtteri Bottas	Stake F1 Kick Sauber C44	1:32.227	97
10	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes MCL38	1:32.328	35
11	Logan Sargeant	Williams Mercedes FW46	1:32.578	117
12	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Mercedes AMR24	1:33.053	31
13	Guanyu Zhou	Stake F1 Kick Sauber C44	1:33.715	38
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault A524	1:33.804	33
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari VF-24	1:36.611	93
16	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas Ferrari VF-24	1:37.509	31
17	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT VCARB 01	1:38.074	40

Bahrain F1 Day 2 Testing. Bahrain F1 Day 2 Testing

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