Bahrain Testing - Day 2

The second day of testing in Bahrain has just concluded. It was, without a doubt, filled with more unexpected twists than the first one; good news for the viewers, but not necessarily for the teams. Once again, the testing was divided into a morning and an afternoon segment. Unlike the day before, the two differed in length because of an unforeseen technical issue.

The testing began with Leclerc, Piastri, Sargeant, Perez, Alonso, Hamilton, Zhou, Gasly, Hulkenberg, and Tsunoda on track. A red flag appeared a little more than two hours into the first session. The problem was a piece of debris near turn 11 that turned out to be a drain cover lifted from the outer edge of one of the curbs. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc seemed to be the driver whose car suffered most because of the issue. The flag was out for about 40 minutes before the morning session came to a halt, with over an hour still technically left to go. Before the drivers were forced into an early lunch, Leclerc achieved the fastest lap (1:31:750), followed by Maclaren's Piastri and Williams' Sargeant. 

To make up for the early end of the previous session, the afternoon one was extended. Instead of starting at 15:00 local time, it began at 14:00 and ran, as planned, until 19:10. Some teams decided to give the drivers scheduled for the morning another hour in the car, while others changed drivers right after the lunch break. By 15:00 local time, all drivers, save for Hamilton, Sargeant, and Perez who drove the whole eight hours, changed. It seemed like an issue with his car would force Norris to retire early, but with half an hour left on the clock, he left the garage once more. By the end of the session, the three drivers who spent the whole day in the car all moved into the 100+ completed laps territory. The afternoon ended with Sainz in the lead (1:29:921), followed by Red Bull's Perez and Mercedes' Hamilton. The last ten minutes of the session were reserved for the safety car tests and pit stop practices. 

The second eight-hour day in Bahrain provided more excitement than expected, but still managed to roughly stick to the schedule, and give all ten teams some time to gather data about their cars. Ferrari ended up on top both times, however Red Bull wasn't far behind thanks to Perez's great time in the afternoon. Now, all that's left is to wait for all the surprises that Friday might bring.