F1 Testing: See how Day 2 unfolded in Bahrain

Editor
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, exits the pit lane. Bahrain, March 2022.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, exits the pit lane, followed by an Alpine. Bahrain, March 2022.

Catch-up with all the Formula 1 action as it happened during the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Main headlines: Ricciardo missing again for McLaren due to illness, Latifi red flags morning session as rear brakes fail and catch fire, Ocon topped morning session, Williams’ day ends early following morning brake fire, Ocon grinds to a halt midway through afternoon session, Norris stops at pit exit to bring out red flags for second time in afternoon session

Day Two timesheet:

1 Carlos Sainz, Ferrari 1.33.532 C4 60
2 Max Verstappen, Red Bull 1.34.011 C4 86
3 Lance Stroll, Aston Martin 1.34.064 C4 70
4 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 1.34.141 C5 47
5 Esteban Ocon, Alpine 1.34.276 C4 111
6 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 1.34.366 C3 54
7 Lando Norris, McLaren 1.34.609 C3 60
8 Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin 1.36.020 C3 46
9 Kevin Magnussen, Haas 1.36.505 C3 39
10 Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri 1.36.802 C3 120
11 Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo 1.36.987 C2 25
12 Mick Schumacher, Haas 1.37.846 C2 23
13 George Russell, Mercedes 1.38.585 C2 (P) 67
14 Nicholas Latifi, Williams 1.39.845 C2 (P) 12
15 Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo 1.39.984 C2 (P) 48

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Live updates (local time):

1900: Another red flag signals an end to today’s testing action. Magnussen will get another hour to himself out on-track. It is Sainz on top after another strong day of running for Ferrari. He finishes just under 0.5s up on Red Bull’s Verstappen in P2. Tsunoda tops the lap counter with 120 for the day.

1856: Well, like the morning standing start, this was a disaster. Right then, as you were, four minutes remain for today.

1855: Just as we were looking in confusion to see if the Safety Car is out there, Stroll has stopped at the end of the pit lane. It would seem that it is on the drivers to design their own rolling start.

1853: Right now they are going for a rolling start as the Race Control message comes through.

1850: It seems that this is another FIA software test, though Tsunoda has come across an issue in the AlphaTauri pit box. He climbs out and goes into the garage, where his AT03 is now pushed.

1847: Session red flagged, not clear why just yet, so maybe they are trying this morning’s routine again.

1840: Verstappen improves further, a 1:34 flat on the C4 takes him up to P2.

1838: Mercedes are taking some front-wing angle off the W13 as Hamilton prepares for his next run.

1836: Norris is on to the soft rubber but that lap ends at Turn 1 as he misses the apex by a long way.

1830: Zhou appears to have been stuck in fourth gear there, he is at the bottom of the standings today so far.

1824: A 1:34.6 there for Norris on the medium compound, but meanwhile Verstappen and Sainz go to battle, it was Sainz who looked to make the overtake into Turn 1, but Verstappen held on to stay ahead out of Turn 2. Their squabble had started when Verstappen passed Sainz at the penultimate corner of their previous lap.

1816: It’s a 1:34.1 for Hamilton, a tenth up on Verstappen, but still not enough to usurp Sainz six-tenths up the road, or even Stroll. It seems Hamilton set that lap on the C5, while Verstappen was on the C4 tyre, as were Sainz and Stroll for their best times.

1814: Now it’s Hamilton’s turn for a push lap on the softs.

1812: He goes P3, seven-tenths down on Sainz’s benchmark using the same tyres. It must be noted though that fuel loads are unknown.

1811: Verstappen is going for a soft-tyre run.

1806: Norris had set his personal-best first sector, but that lap is ruined by going wide at Turn 11. But at least the McLaren driver is already back out there, while Alpine are expecting further track time for Ocon very soon too.

1805: Magnussen too encounters some serious porpoising down the straight. Welcome back!

1758: We are back to green as the track action resumes.

1753: Norris has taken it upon himself to start pushing the MCL36 back towards the pit lane. The McLaren mechanics have been told to stop at the pit exit while Norris and the marshals retrieve the car.

1751: And…the red flags are back. Norris has stopped shortly after the pit exit, he climbs out to stare at the MCL36 as he waits for some assistance.

1747: The W13 is porpoising like crazy down the straights, not a comfortable ride for Hamilton who is not having an easy afternoon trying to keep that car under control through the corners either.

1746: Magnussen pumps in a 1:36.505 as he now moves ahead of Bottas and Tsunoda in the standings.

1740: The Alpine has been cleared and the session is underway once more.

1735: Alpine stated that it is nothing serious, with Ocon instead stopping the A522 as a precuation with something not quite right on the car.

1731: We have dipped under 90 minutes remaining for the session now which remains red flagged.

1729: The Alpine crew are out covering up their stricken A522 as the crane arrives. Cheers from the stands for Ocon as he gets dropped off back at the garage.

1724: He lost drive out of Turn 10 and parked it up in the middle sector.

1722: Ocon has a problem. He has pulled up in the Alpine as the red flags come out.

1718: It is like K-Mag has never been away! A cracking effort there with a 1:37.838 to surpass the benchmark of Haas team-mate Schumacher by 0.008s. We could have a very exciting inter-team battle on its way.

1714: The Ferrari driver is unable to improve, going slower in all three sectors. A wide moment at Turn 4 did not help Sainz there at all.

1713: Sainz sets off on another push lap.

1710: The grip vanishes for Verstappen at Turn 4 as he goes well wide, ruining that flying lap.

1705: The floodlights are indeed now on around the Bahrain International Circuit.

1659: Some aero-cruising from Norris before he goes back to the pits. Perhaps McLaren are giving up on trying to get them brakes to hold on during long runs.

1652: They may need to think about turning the floodlights on early. With sand in the air it is getting a little dark around the circuit.

1651: Tsunoda is the only driver out there to have broken the 100-lap barrier for the day – 103 tours of Bahrain so far.

1649: Sainz picks up a nice slipstream from Hamilton along the main straight, going purple in Sector 2 and Sector 3 to improve to a 1:33.532 on the C4 rubber.

1646: Norris completes some speed-limited sharp turn-ins with the MCL36 before returning to the pit lane. Magnussen meanwhile joins those caught out by understeer as he gets to grips with the Haas VF-22.

1640: It is a similar story for Hamilton, the cars are looking very tricky under steering.

1638: They are at it already! Verstappen sits behind Hamilton before diving up the inside and pushing on to start a flying lap. Sadly a load of understeer ruins that lap for Verstappen.

1635: The Mercedes crew come out to receive Hamilton for a practice stop, triggering Red Bull to come flying out of the garage to do the same for Verstappen. Hamilton is slightly off with his line into the box, with both teams releasing their respective driver again without a tyre change.

1634: Stroll improves to P2, the Canadian now only 0.121s down on Sainz’s P1 time.

1632: Hamilton is quick to complain of a hot seat, a running theme across various teams so far today.

1630: Hamilton heads back out onto the track, while Red Bull soon after also set Verstappen free after that lengthy job in the garage.

1625: We have a new leader! Sainz breaks into the 1:33s, the Ferrari driver setting a 1:33.943.

1623: Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri says that the team are currently doing some aero mapping, so while he doesn’t know why Ocon is going off-line down the straights, he says that is the reason for him doing so.

1618: Stroll finds a big chunk of time, still on the C3s, to return to P3 on the leaderboard.

1615: Sadly for Williams though their day is done…

1613: Aston Martin have reportedly been busy adjusting the rear and front suspension ahead of Stroll’s next run.

1608: He’s back, K-Mag is back out on the track for Haas.

1606: Sainz though shuffles him down a place as he takes over P3, 10 laps into his stint this afternoon.

1605: Stroll is cranking it up, he shoots up to P3 on the timings, just shy of 1.2s down on Ocon’s benchmark.

1559: McLaren principal Andreas Seidl says time is ticking as they try to fly new brake components to the Bahrain International Circuit to address their woes for the final testing day on Saturday.

1555: Hamilton is getting set to head back out, but the screens remain up at Red Bull, with pit-lane reports stating that some new bits are being put onto the rear end of the RB18. Could this be the big upgrade?

1550: Norris overshot his marks slightly there in the pits, perhaps a couple of shin bruises for the jackman but thankfully no serious harm done.

1547: Norris was back out there, but now returns to the pits. Seems them front brakes are cooking again.

1542: Some Valentino Rossi vibes going on there with Hamilton’s 44…

1540: The W13 was looking lively there for Hamilton on his first timed lap, while Norris goes wide at Turn 1, forcing Ocon into a lock-up also.

1537: Out comes Lewis Hamilton for his first action at the wheel of the Mercedes W13 today.

1531: “Let’s make these last. Target is 1:43 lap time.” It is long-run time for Tsunoda.

1523: Tsunoda goes wide at Turn 10 again. Maybe they need to paint a video game-esque racing line for the drivers through there.

1521: We have Lance Stroll out there now behind the wheel of the Aston Martin AMR22. He takes over from Vettel for this afternoon.

1514: Tsunoda, like so many drivers, has a wide moment at Turn 10 as he locks-up the front-left.

1510: The screens are up over at the McLaren garage, so it seems that the work is ongoing to fix those pesky issues with the brakes. We may not see Norris for a while yet.

1507: Picking up where he left off, Ocon is back out there for Alpine, though it was interesting to see him going so far off the racing line down the main straight.

1500: We have a green light, the afternoon session begins, straight out goes the AlphaTauri of Tsunoda.

1400 And there we have it. The morning session will not be resumed. Time for a one-hour lunch break and then we’ll back to bring you four more hours of lovely testing action from 1500 local time.

1358: And that’s had to be aborted too as Valtteri Bottas has been told to stop by his Alfa Romeo team, bringing out the red flags again. What a weird end to the morning session.

1356: The standing start has been aborted and we’re going for an extra formation lap.

1355: Well this is fun. We’re going to get going again with a standing start on the grid!

1350: Panic over, it was just the FIA going through their own testing protocols.

1345: We have another red flag. Not sure what for at the moment…

1343: Speaking of early lunches…

1335: The Aston Martin car is finally back in the garage. That took some retrieving! It’s very quiet on track still, but expect things to ramp up this afternoon as the temperatures cool. It is stifling hot out there.

1320: Vettel is still with his stricken Aston Martin car. Looks like he has plugged himself back in to relay some info back to the garage but it looks like that’s the morning session over for Seb and an early lunch awaits.

1311: Looks like Seb has parked the car in a safe enough place to prevent a second red flag of the session from appearing. Not like we ever doubted he wouldn’t find a nice spot.

1307: Sebastian Vettel has come to a stop at Turn 7. He is trying to reboot the car but it looks like he has given up trying to get going again. A marshal is on the scene and asking for Vettel to get out.

1300: Into the final hour of the morning session. Here’s how things are looking…

1 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1.34.276 C4 38
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1.34.366 C3 32
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1.35.874 C2 33
4 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1.36.020 C3 42
5 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1.36.987 C2 18
6 Lando Norris McLaren 1.37.537 C2 15
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1.37.692 C3 29
8 Mick Schumacher Haas 1.37.846 C2 20
9 George Russell Mercedes 1.38.585 C2 45
10 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1.39.845 C2 12

1255: Oh, in case you missed this yesterday evening…while Mercedes’ zero-pod W13 was catching most of the attention. Ferrari were actually more concerned about the wing mirrors on the new Silver Arrows car and want them banned.

1245: This has been quite the recurring theme for Yuki Tsunoda in this morning’s session. He is really have to wrestle with the AT03.

1235: If you thought Williams were having a bad day, then take a look at McLaren. Just six laps for Norris to add to yesterday’s 50 as brake issues continue to plague the team. As I type, Norris is back out now with 1 hour 20 mins left on the session clock.

1225: Schumacher, Norris and Tsunoda have all found some improvement since the session restarted after lengthy stoppage, but none of them are in any way close to troubling the top of the timesheet.

1210: Session will resume at 1216 local time.

1205: The Williams car is on its way back to the garage now. Will be very surprised if we see it again today.

1155: We’re still under red flag conditions as the crane and recovery truck take the stricken Williams away.

1145: It hadn’t been a great morning session for Latifi before that. Just 9 laps on the board before that sudden stoppage and Williams are going to lose further precious time getting this car back ready for action.

1142: Red flag! Nicholas Latifi has spun off and has had to jump out of the car pretty sharpish as the rear brakes are on fire. He is helping the marshals with the extinguishing efforts.

1135: The track has been very quiet in the last 15 minutes. Just Verstappen and Vettel setting some low-key laps with the C2 tyres on. Come on everybody, wake up!

1120: Ocon is back at the top of the timesheet, but only just. With the C4 tyres on, he knocks Leclerc off top spot by a mere 0.090s. We are thankful to the Alpine driver for popping out for a run as the track was completely quiet before that!

1110: A new look for Alpine this morning. They are running two liveries this season and we’re getting our first proper look at the second today.

Prefer the first one, don’t you?

1055: We have a new name at the top of the leaderboard and it’s Charles Leclerc with a 1:34.566 on the C3 tyre – a second quicker than Ocon’s early best.

1049: Oh…here’s the World Champion Max Verstappen out on track. With the hard tyres strapped on, he set a purple first sector before finishing four tenths behind his best mate Ocon. That’s good enough for P2 at the moment.

1044: Just like yesterday, Turn 10 is catching a few drivers out this morning. Tsunoda, Latifi and now Leclerc have all locked up and run wide there. Thankfully there is plenty of run-off.

1037: It’s pretty much the Ocon Show at the moment as we watch him go on the slowest of cool down laps and have another push on the C3. He can’t improve on his early marker though.

1026: New fastest lap time as Esteban Ocon in the pink Alpine lays down a 1:36.472.

1019: It seems like it is not a good morning for many of the teams as Norris is back in the McLaren garage with the team working on the cooling system. That’s the same problem that limited him to just 21 laps on Thursday morning.

1016: Aston Martin are also working on their car, Sebastian Vettel watching on his chief mechanic role – the one he does alongside driver, humanitarian, inspector, father, husband… you get the picture.

1012: Three times on the board so far with Lando Norris P1 with a 1:38.543.

1006: Ferrari will likely be a bit late out as they seem to be working on a power issue problem on the left side of the car.

1000: Green light, let’s go…

0951: Alpine will be running their alternate livery today, the BWT pink. Looks sharp…

0944: Haas have reportedly said no to the offer to give the team extra hours each day to test after they lost Thursday morning’s running through no fault of their own. Guenther Steiner told AMuS: “I can’t expect my mechanics to do that. We were stolen 36 hours for a problem that wasn’t in our hands”.

0936: McLaren have confirmed that Lando Norris will again drive today, the Briton filling in for Daniel Ricciardo who continues to recover from illness. The Aussie is said to have recorded a negative Covid test.

0930: Good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are in the world and welcome back to Bahrain for the second day of F1 Testing. Just like yesterday, the morning session starts at 1000 local time and runs for four hours and the evening session starts at 1500 local time and runs for another four hours. Get yourself drinks, snacks and buckle up!