F1 | Bahrain Test, Day 2: Ferrari closes in front with Sainz

The second day of testing ends under a sky completely tinged with red. it is not the beautiful sunset offered by Sakhir, but by Ferrari, which finished at the top of the general classification thanks to the best time achieved by Carlos Sainz.

If at the end of the morning session it was Charles Leclerc who was the fastest under a scorching sun, when the sunset turned off the lights and the asphalt cooled it was the Madrilenian who made a loud statement by fitting a set of C4 compounds and stopping the clock in 1'29″921.

Carlos was the only driver of those fielded by the top teams to use the compound recognizable by the red band, but he had already obtained important chronometric results also with the C3 – used instead by almost all those chasing him – which had brought him close from the reference obtained from Leclerc this morning.

If making comparisons on the flying lap is difficult, if not impossible due to the difference in compounds and the time in which the drivers' times were obtained, it was the race simulation done by Carlos Sainz that gave comforting signals. 3 stints in which he used C3, C2 and C1, which will be the compounds available in a week for the first GP of the season.

The SF-24 was very consistent over time. Little or no degradation was seen, at least in today's track conditions. The single-seater, also according to the drivers, is easier to drive and the starting point seems to be there, although Red Bull starts not only as favourites, but probably also ahead of everyone in terms of performance. It remains to be seen by how much.

Sergio Perez, second of the day, was the fastest driver on the C3s, even though his time was achieved in the best possible conditions. The track was now much fresher and he was able to make the most of it to finish 7 tenths of a second off Sainz's reference time.

Perez was also the author of a long run in which he confirmed the solidity of the RB20, but it is difficult to compare his times to those of Sainz because his simulation was carried out earlier, with different temperatures than those found by the Ferrari driver.

Mercedes beat Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton who, imitating Perez, improved with C3 tires in the best moment on the track. However, his gap from Sainz is 1″1 and behind him he has the first McLaren, that of Lando Norris, two tenths behind. The British driver also lost several minutes due to a problem with the fuel pump inside of the MCL38 tank.

Racing Bulls said they wanted to aim to be the first team in the middle of the group and today with Daniel Ricciardo they succeeded. The race pace of the VCARB 01 seemed constant, while on the flying lap it is not yet clear how much potential the single-seater born and built in Faenza has. During the morning Yuki Tsunoda did not set excellent times, so much so that he finished just 17th and last of the day. The Japanese probably dedicated much of his time to doing a job that didn't include testing fast laps.

Charles Leclerc finished in sixth place thanks to the time set this morning, before handing over the wheel of the SF-24 to Sainz. Finding him in the Top 6 gives an idea of ​​the value of the lap made by the Monegasque with C3 compounds, although his gap from his teammate is 1.8″.

Lance Stroll had the opportunity to test the AMR24 in better conditions than those found by Fernando Alonso (12th) this morning. The Canadian did several tests with C3 tyres, focusing on gaining confidence with the car and finding confidence on the flying lap.

Alpine continues to be sly, especially testing the two hardest compounds made by Pirelli. Lots of laps on C1 and C2 for the French team, with Esteban Ocon still managing to finish eighth. Pierre Gasly, on the other hand, did not go beyond 14th, but only ran in the morning.

Sauber is still to be deciphered, with Valtteri Bottas ninth ahead of Oscar Piastri and GuanYu Zhou 13th, while Logan Sargeant had the opportunity to run all day with the FW46, except for a steering problem that forced him to lose several minutes. He brings up the rear with the usual Haas. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg have indicated a gap too large to be real (over 6″5). But the conditions are certainly not rosy…