Vettel fastest from Stroll on morning of day two at Bahrain test

Sebastian Vettel has enjoyed a strong start to his Bahrain Formula 1 test by setting the fastest lap for Ferrari ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.

With conditions remaining dry and hot following the rain-interrupted opening day of the Bahrain test, all F1 drivers got plenty of track running completed in the morning which Vettel controlled throughout on the timesheet before setting the fastest lap of the day with a 1m 29.319s – fractionally faster than Max Verstappen’s leading effort from day one.

Stroll acted as Vettel’s nearest challenger by the midway point having produced a 1m 30.049s for Racing Point as it looked to progress its development of the RP19.

George Russell was called on for testing duties at Mercedes, having tested for Williams on day one, with the British driver qualifying under F1’s young driver rules for the test. Russelll had held second place for a large stretch of the morning before Stroll’s midday effort.

Alexander Albon continued his impressive pace for Toro Rosso at the Bahrain test, also qualifying as its young driver given he has contested two F1 races, with the British-Thai driver slotting into fourth place.

Haas development driver Pietro Fittipaldi enjoyed a solid morning having completed just 20 laps yesterday due to rain delays and is scheduled to hand over to Romain Grosjean for the afternoon session.

Lando Norris remains on testing duty for McLaren with teammate Carlos Sainz taking part in the Pirelli tyre test for the Woking-based squad before he hands over to Fernando Alonso this afternoon.

Dan Ticktum has made his F1 test debut for Red Bull, following on from Verstappen who led Tuesday’s times, with the Super Formula driver slotting into seventh place in the morning session completing over 50 laps.

With Sainz eighth, Mick Schumacher continued to gain the majority of attention on his second day of F1 testing switching over to the Alfa Romeo squad after his strong debut with Ferrari yesterday.

Daniil Kvyat is continuing with the Toro Rosso Pirelli tyre test while Formula 2 regulars Jack Aitken (Renault) and Nicolas Latifi (Williams) rounded out the times.