Another day of testing in the books and another successful outing for Ferrari who initially topped the timesheet thanks to Carlos Sainz’s lap in the afternoon session, as well as managing to complete 60 laps overall, but were beaten by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who had an extra hour of running in Bahrain.
Haas were unable to start testing on Thursday morning as their freight hadn’t arrived in time, so were allowed extra time after the main session ended on Friday, so as not to disadvantage the American team.
The day was littered with red flags as we saw Lando Norris’ McLaren breakdown, and the Williams of Nicholas Latifi had a problem with the rear brakes before going on fire.
Sebastian Vettel had issues with his Aston Martin, as did Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, and Esteban Ocon in the Alpine.
Bahrain testing – Day 2 Results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Best Time | Tyre | Tot. Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:33.207 | C4 | 60 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:33.532 | C4 | 60 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:34.011 | C4 | 86 |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:34.064 | C4 | 69 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.141 | C5 | 47 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:34.276 | C4 | 111 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:34.366 | C3 | 54 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:34.609 | C3 | 59 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:36.020 | C3 | 46 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:36.802 | C3 | 119 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:36.987 | C2 | 25 |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1:37.846 | C2 | 23 |
| 13 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:38.585 | C2 | 67 |
| 14 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:39.845 | C2 | 12 |
| 15 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:39.984 | C2 | 48 |
And despite being the talk of the paddock on Thursday, Mercedes endured a tough day as Lewis Hamilton had a tough time keeping his car under control with porpoising still a clear issue.
That said, Hamilton was still able to put in the fifth fastest time, while 2021 World Champion Max Verstappen third fastest.
Bahrain Day 2 Testing – Total Team Laps
| Team | Total Laps |
|---|---|
| AlphaTauri | 120 |
| Aston Martin | 116 |
| Mercedes | 114 |
| Ferrari | 114 |
| Alpine | 111 |
| Red Bull | 86 |
| Haas | 83 |
| Alfa Romeo | 73 |
| McLaren | 60 |
| Williams | 12 |
