Sainz outpaces Verstappen on second day of Bahrain F1 test
Lap times tumbled in the afternoon as teams switched onto Pirelli’s softest tyre compounds following a sweltering morning in the Bahrain desert in which temperatures reached 37 degrees Celsius.
It was Sainz who ended up quickest after setting a new benchmark pace - a 1m33.532s - on C4 tyres on the penultimate day of the three-day Bahrain test.
That put the Spaniard nearly half a second clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the reigning world champion producing his best time of the test so far on the C4 compound despite a wide moment coming out of the final corner.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth-fastest with the C5 compound strapped to his Mercedes as he finished over six-tenths down on Sainz’s headline-grabbing effort.
Morning pacesetter Esteban Ocon caused the third red flag period of the day when his pink Alpine stopped at the exit of Turn 12. But the Frenchman was able to rejoin the action, clocking a strong 111 laps in total.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the highest of the morning runners in sixth, ahead of Lando Norris, who caused the fourth and final red flag when he ground to a halt at the exit of the pit lane.
The issue was not serious, however, and Norris was able to quickly return to the track to rack up a total of 60 laps as he continued to deputise for unwell teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
McLaren has had a troubled test so far in Bahrain, with the team facing a “race against time” to get the upgraded parts it needs to solve its ongoing brake issues in order to to be able to complete race simulations.
Sebastian Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 order for Aston Martin and AlphaTauri respectively, with the latter managing the most mileage of anyone with 120 laps.
Valtteri Bottas endured a frustrating morning hampered by a sudden technical problem and a hydraulic leak which caused him to stop on track with only 25 laps to his name.
Williams was forced to end its day early after just 12 laps of running following Nicholas Latifi’s dramatic morning brake fire which melted the suspension of the FW44.
Latifi ended up ahead of only Guanyu Zhou, who completed 48 laps for Alfa Romeo after teammate Bottas hit trouble at the end of the first session.
The third and final day of pre-season running testing takes place on Saturday, a week before the 2022 season finally gets underway at Sakhir.
Final results from the second day in Bahrain.
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