Ricciardo and Bottas quickest in F1’s second day of pre-season testing

Daniel Ricciardo was quickest in the morning with Valtteri Bottas fastest in the afternoon as F1 completed the second day of pre-season testing.

Morning

Carlos Sainz started the day by topping the timing charts in the first hour with his time of 1:33.072 putting his Ferrari into P1.

Nikita Mazepin trailed the Spaniard by seven-tenths in second with Fernando Alonso over a second behind his Spanish compatriot.

Nicholas Latifi followed in fourth with Lewis Hamilton fifth-fastest after the first hour after a shocking start to proceedings for Mercedes.

Sergio Perez got into the Red Bull and set a benchmark over two seconds slower than Sainz with Yuki Tsunoda setting the final timed last, nearly four-seconds off the quickest time set by the Ferrari man.

Daniel Ricciardo, Antonio Giovinazzi and Sebastian Vettel were yet to run in the first hour as they took their time before hitting the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Alpine of Alonso then stepped up and took first spot away from Sainz as the Spaniard dropped to third with Ricciardo sliding into second.

Mazepin slid down to fourth with Perez close to two-tenths slower than the Haas in fifth. Hamilton was a tenth back on Perez’s time in sixth with Latifi’s time closely behind the fastest time the seven-time World Champion set.

Tsunoda improved on his time but dropped to eighth with the pairing of Giovinazzi and Vettel were bottom of the pile with the German not getting much running time due to a gearbox issue.

Ricciardo was the third driver of the morning session to take the fastest time beating Alonso’s time by over a tenth and relegating the returning Spaniard to second.

Latifi stepped his game up putting his Williams car ahead of Sainz in fourth and Mazepin in fifth. Perez remained reserved as he fell down to sixth ahead of Hamilton in seventh and Tsunoda in eighth. Giovinazzi and Vettel remained as the bottom two as they remained grounded in the garage.

The Aussie remained in P1 until the end of the session showing his strengths and getting to grips with the McLaren car rather quickly. Alonso remained second in his Alpine car with Perez improving to third.

The Williams of Latifi subsequently dropped down to fourth with Tsunoda moving into fifth, half a second slower than Ricciardo’s fastest time.

Sainz, Mazepin and Hamilton were unable to improve as the trio ended the day in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

Giovinazzi was able to improve on his early fastest lap but was still way off the pace nearly four seconds slower than Ricciardo’s McLaren with Vettel remaining in the garage and was unable to continue as a gearbox issue halted the proceedings for the German.

Afternoon

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Ricciardo retained the top spot throughout the first hour of the day with his morning best of a 1:32.215 ahead of Alpine’s Alonso in second and Perez in third.

Latifi, Tsunoda, Sainz and Mazepin followed with the Alfa Romeo of Giovinazzi jumping into eighth after a lap time which was only a few hundredths slower than the Haas of Mazepin.

Hamilton dropped down to ninth with Mick Schumacher slotting his car into the top 10. Lance Stroll was two seconds slower than the German in 11th with Charles Leclerc in P12.

Pierre Gasly was 13th as Sebastian Vettel remained the slowest of the pack as he finished his running in the morning session. Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas were yet to run in the session as they remained patient and waited for their chance to get out on the track.

The McLaren of Ricciardo remained the time to in the second hour as Alonso and Perez retained their spots in second and third.

Giovinazzi jumped into fourth only three-tenths slower than the Aussie with Latifi and Tsunoda in fifth and sixth. Schumacher jumped ahead of Sainz, Mazepin and Hamilton as the son of seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher, moved into seventh.

Bottas completed his first runs and was only able to get up to 11th, nearly one and a half seconds slower than Ricciardo. Stroll was able to go quicker but fell down to 12th as Norris also completed his first quick laps and was only good for 13th.

Gasly, Leclerc and Vettel were the bottom three as the afternoon session reached its mid-way point and nearing the end of day two of pre-season testing.

The lead swapped hands as Gasly set a lap time close to one a half seconds than Ricciardo’s time in the morning as the Frenchman shot to the top of the timings.

Giovinazzi was close behind in second as his Alfa Romeo was half a tenth slower than the AlphaTauri with Norris two-hundredths slower than the Italian as the Englishmen fired up to third.

Bottas nurtured his Mercedes into fourth ahead of Perez and Leclerc who were fifth and sixth respectivley. Ricciardo and Alonso subsequently dropped down to seventh and eighth as Stroll and Latifi rounded off the top 10.

Two rookies of Tsunoda and Schumacher were just outside the top 10 in 11th and 12th as the duo of Sainz were only split by three-hundredths with the Spaniard in 13th and the Russian in 14th. Hamilton and Vettel were bottom as they looked on from the pit-lane with the drivers heading into their final hour.

At the end of the day, Bottas took top spot as the Finn set a lap time of 1:30.289 which was one-tenth faster than Gasly in second and close to two-tenths faster than Stroll in third.

Norris was down in fourth, three-tenths slower than Bottas, with Giovinazzi in fifth close to half a second slower than the Mercedes driver.

Leclerc retained sixth place as Latifi moved up to seventh by the end of the session. Perez dropped down to eighth as he could not replicate the same pace as Verstappen produced yesterday.

Ricciardo and Alonso rounded of the top 10 with the two rookies of Tsunoda and Schumacher in 11th and 12th. Sainz, Mazepin, Hamilton and Vettel all remained in the same spots from the third hour as the F1 drivers finished the second day of pre-season testing.

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