Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz went quickest on the second day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, beating Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez by almost eight tenths of a second on a day when the morning session ended early due to Charles Leclerc hitting a loose drain cover.
Cars had been on track for a little over an hour and a half when then fastest man Leclerc ran across the drain cover. The session was halted as inspections got underway and while Ferrari set about replacing the floor or the SF24. Eventually, however, it was decided to end morning running to allow repairs to take place, with an additional hour being allocated to the afternoon session.
Leclerc’s morning best time held firm through the additional afternoon hour. Sainz posted a lap of 1:31.856 to take P2 and as the timer reached the two-hour mark the Spaniard pumped in a lap of 1:31.397 to take top spot from his team-mate. Sainz then moved to the red-walled C4 tyres and improved again, working his way down to 1:29.921, a time which left him comfortably ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.
Hamilton jumped to second behind Sainz with a lap of 1:31.066s, set on the C3 Pirelli tyre. However, in the final hour of the session, the Mercedes driver was bumped back to P3 by Pérez who stopped the clock in 1:30.679, also on the C3.
Like team-mate Max Verstappen yesterday, Pérez also put in a marathon number of laps. The Mexican ended the day on 129, six ahead of Hamilton, and might have had many more but for the halt in running and an earlier brake problem that restricted him to just 20 laps in the morning.
With Pérez and Hamilton making gains, Norris was left with fourth place on the timesheet. Norris spent some time out of the car in the afternoon, however, as mechanics worked on an unspecified problem at the rear of the MCL38.
RB’s Daniel Ricciardo finished the day in fifth place after using the C4 compound to set a best time of 1:31.361. Leclerc took sixth ahead of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon ended the day in P8. Sauber's Valtteri Bottas and McLaren's Oscar Piastri rounded out the top 10.
Logan Sargeant, who like Hamilton and Pérez, ran for the full day, was 11th quickest and completed 117 laps of the Sakhir circuit. Fernando Alonso was 12th ahead of Stake F1’s Zhou Guanyu and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg remained near the bottom, with RB's Yuki Tsunoda slowest of the 17 runners.
2024 FIA Formula One Pre-Season Testing – Day 2
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.921 84 C4
2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:30.679 +0.758s 129 C3
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.066 +1.145s 123 C3
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:31.256 +1.335s 52 C3
5 Daniel Ricciardo Visa Cash App RB 1:31.361 +1.440s 88 C4
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.750 +1.829s 54 C3
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:32.029 +2.108s 96 C3
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:32.061 +2.140s 78 C3
9 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:32.227 +2.306s 97 C3
10 Oscar Piastri Mclaren 1:32.328 +2.407s 35 C3
11 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:32.578 +2.657s 117 C3
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.053 +3.132s 31 C3
13 Zhou Guanyu Stake F1 Team 1:33.715 +3.794s 38 C3
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:33.804 +3.883s 33 C3
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:36.611 +6.690s 93 C3
16 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:37.509 +7.588s 31 C3
17 Yuki Tsunoda Visa Cash App RB 1:38.074 +8.153s 40 C3
