Sainz uses softer tyres to lead Perez by 0.7 seconds on day two of test

Carlos Sainz Jnr posted the quickest time in the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, seven tenths of a second ahead of Sergio Perez.

The Ferrari driver took over the SF-24 from team mate Charles Leclerc for the evening session and used the C4 compound tyres to post a 1’29.921, comfortably quicker than Max Verstappen’s best time of the first day of running on Wednesday.

After Thursday’s first session was cut short due to a loose drain cover, an hour was added to the evening’s running, giving drivers five hours of running time. Ferrari gave Leclerc the opportunity to continue in the car for the first hour after the break before Sainz took over.

Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen took over their respective cars for the evening session, with Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton and Logan Sargeant each continuing to complete a full day in their cars.

Leclerc’s best time of a 1’31.750 from the early session remained untouched over the opening hour of running, before Hamilton improved on the C3 compound tyres to move into second on the timing screen. That put him just ahead of Oscar Piastri’s time from the early session but still half a second from Leclerc’s best up to that point.

Around 90 minutes into running, Sainz headed out on a fresh set of C3 tyres and posted a 1’31.856, the fastest time of the second session and just a tenth slower than his team mate’s time from the first. Soon after, Bottas put his Sauber third-fastest on the day before Norris jumped ahead of his team mate and Bottas to go third himself, two tenths off Leclerc’s benchmark.

Around 4pm, Sainz posted a new fastest lap of the day with a 1’31.397, two tenths quicker than his team mate’s previous best and almost matching Verstappen’s fastest time of the test from Wednesday. Soon after, he pitted for C4 compound tyres – the second-softest in the range – and headed out to post a new quickest time of the test of 1’30.686, the first driver under 1’31 over the two days.

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Not long after, Sainz used a second set of new C4s to lower his own best time by two tenths to 1’30.424. Meanwhile, Norris took a fresh set of C3s to improve his personal best to a 1’31.256, comfortably second and quicker than Verstappen’s best from Wednesday.

Perez had a scare when his Red Bull slowed to a crawl at turn 13 and appeared to be in ‘limp home’ mode. Fortunately, the downhill run to the pit lane allowed him to roll into the garage and after some checks from the Red Bull mechanics he was soon back on the track.

Another fresh set of C4s produced another new fastest time for Sainz who broke under the 90 second mark for the first time with a 1’29.921. Seemingly satisfied with that achievement, he returned to focus on longer runs.

Heading into the fourth hour, Norris climbed out of the McLaren as his team’s mechanics stripped off the engine cover of the MCL38 and began to work around the power unit of the car. The problem was later reported to be related to the fuel system.

With just under an hour remaining, Hamilton moved up to second place with a time just over a second slower than Sainz’s best on the C3 compound. Also in the final hour, Perez used the C3 tyres to go second fastest with a 1’30.679, seven tenths slower than Sainz’s best time.

When just 15 minutes of running were left on the clock, FIA race director Niels Wittich initiated a planned test of the Virtual Safety Car, Safety Car and red flag procedures. This was followed by a mock Safety Car restart test in which Hamilton led a group consisting of Norris, Bottas, Ocon and Magnussen, who all raced each other through the first two sectors of the lap.

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After another red flag brought an end to proceedings for the day, Sainz’s best time of a 1’29.921 was the fastest, seven tenths faster than Perez with Hamilton a second slower than Sainz in third. Norris was fourth-fastest for McLaren ahead of Ricciardo fifth, Leclerc’s early time good enough for sixth and Stroll seventh.

Perez and Hamilton naturally completed the most laps of the day with 129 and 123, respectively, with Sargeant covering 117 laps on his final day of running. Bottas, Magnussen and Stroll also completed over 90 laps, with Ricciardo and Sainz both getting over 80 unde their belts. Norris had the fewest laps of the second session, with 54.

2024 Formula 1 pre-season Bahrain test – Day two complete times:

Pos.	Car number	Driver	Team	Model	Best time	Gap	Laps
1	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-24	1’29.921		84
2	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB20	1’30.679	0.758	129
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W15	1’31.066	1.145	123
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	MCL38	1’31.256	1.335	52
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	RB01	1’31.361	1.440	88
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-24	1’31.750	1.829	54
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	AMR24	1’32.029	2.108	96
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	A524	1’32.061	2.140	78
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	C44	1’32.227	2.306	97
10	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	MCL38	1’32.328	2.407	35
11	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams	FW46	1’32.578	2.657	117
12	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	AMR24	1’33.053	3.132	31
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	C44	1’33.715	3.794	38
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	A524	1’33.804	3.883	33
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	VF-24	1’36.611	6.690	93
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	VF-24	1’37.509	7.588	31
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	RB01	1’38.074	8.153	40

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