Surprisingly, the man of the day in Bahrain is Kevin Magnussen. The Dane made the most of the hour of extra time granted to Haas to recover today part of the Thursday morning lost due to the delay in the delivery of the material and unexpectedly put his autograph at the top of the time list.
When all the teams concluded the second day of testing at 17:00 Italian time, Haas continued their activities by pushing firmly on the mapping of the Ferrari engine to allow the Dane to set the time of 1’33 ” 207 with the C4 compound. .
Magnuessen will certainly earn the headlines with this performance, but the good job done by Ferrari with Carlos Sainz should not be underestimated. The Spaniard completed the afternoon session with the best time – before being ousted from the top by Magnussen – obtaining the reference of 1’33”532 with the Pirelli C4.
Sainz collected a total of 60 laps today and was also the protagonist of a short but intense duel with Max Verstappen. When Sainz was engaged in his own race simulation, a slight misunderstanding sparked the sparks on the track with Max ready to take back his position on the Ferrari driver.
Just the world champion finished behind the Madrid player in the times table. Max, again with the C4 compound, set the time of 1’34 ” 011 paying a gap of 479 thousandths from Sainz, but from the outside it seemed that the Red Bull RB18 had a considerable fuel load.
What impressed most of Adrian Newey’s latest creation, however, was the remarkable stability in the corners and the ease of driving that Max seemed to have during the 86 laps covered on this day.
Scrolling through the rankings, it is surprising to see the name of Lance Stroll in fourth position ahead of that of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The Canadian closed the day with a total of 70 laps and the best personal time in ‘134’ ‘064 achieved with the C4 compound.
Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, had to take advantage of the C5 compound to be able to move up the timesheet. The Mercedes W13 is perhaps overshadowing its potential from its rivals, but it is undeniable that it still looks like an immature project. Compared to a very stable RB18, the latest creation of the Stella still seemed indomitable in the corners and it will perhaps take some time to be able to extract the maximum potential.
After shining in the morning, Esteban Ocon closed the working day for Alpine with the sixth fastest time. The Frenchman, together with Yuki Tsunoda, overcame 100 laps making 111 laps but in the afternoon he was the protagonist of one of the many red flag interruptions when he parked his A522 outside Turn 12 due to a technical fault detected by the telemetry.
Behind the Frenchman we find the other Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque, engaged at the wheel of the F1-75 in the morning session, covered a total of 54 laps, obtaining the best time in 1’34”366 and led to the debut of a new fund that seems to have immediately given excellent results in the fight for porpoising with a Ferrari not very prone to hopping on the Bahrain straights.
Today was also a very troubled day for McLaren. The unavailability of Daniel Ricciardo forced Lando Norris to undertake the entire work program, but even on this Friday the mechanics of the Woking team found themselves grappling with the problem of overheating of the front brakes that forced the Englishman to long breaks. New ducts should arrive tomorrow with which the team hopes to definitively solve the problem. Lando, meanwhile, closed with the eighth time in 1’34 ” 609 obtained with the C3 compound.
Ninth reference for Sebastian Vettel in 1’36 ” 020. The German, busy in the morning, was forced to a precautionary stop due to a vibration due to an unidentified problem. The four-time world champion thus preceded the other rider capable of breaking through to 100: Yuki Tsunoda.
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03
Photo by: Motorsport Images
The Japanese was busy at the wheel of the AlphaTauri all day trying to better understand the new weapon of the Faenza team. 1’36 ” 802, obtained with C3 compound, and a total of 120 laps are the spoils of this Friday in Bahrain for Yuki.
Out of the top ten closed Valtteri Bottas. Alfa Romeo Sauber, however, suffered some youth defects again this morning when the Finn caused the red flag immediately after the starting tests. Valtteri preceded Mick Schumacher, twelfth with a time of 1’37 ” 846, and George Russell.
The new Mercedes purchase did not seek performance in the morning, but focused on fine-tuning the new W13 to ensure that the diva has less tantrum at the first GP of the season.
Nicholas Latifi and Guanyu Zhou close the ranking. The Williams Canadian was the protagonist of the first red flag of the day when a fire from the rear brakes completely enveloped the rear of his car.
The damage to the car forced Williams to raise the white flag in the afternoon and postpone the work program until tomorrow. Zhou, on the other hand, continued to become familiar with the new reality by completing a total of 48 laps and obtaining the best time of 1’39 ” 984.
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