Carlos Sainz pipped by Kevin Magnussen in late-night session on day two of F1 pre-season test
Carlos Sainz was fastest overall in official running on day two of the F1 pre-season test in Bahrain but was bested by Kevin Magnussen as Haas completed an extra hour around the track.
Kevin Magnussen was fastest overall on day two of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain. (LAT Photo/Haas F1 Team)
Sainz took over duties from Charles Leclerc for the afternoon session at the Sakhir circuit, running a qualifying simulation on the C2 tyres before progressively moving through the range up to the C5.
He set his fastest lap on the C4 compound with a lap time of 1:33.532 before moving into longer race simulations, battling wheel-to-wheel with Max Verstappen in the closing hour of the day's running.
"A bit of a strange afternoon with track conditions changing a lot from run to run, especially the strong wind which made it difficult to be consistent on the short runs and to get a good understanding of each compound and how they compared to one another," said Sainz.
"We will analyse everything tonight and prepare a good run plan for tomorrow, as there are quite a few things I still want to test on the last day."
"In general, another positive day for the team."
The official results from day two of testing before Kevin Magnussen set the fastest lap. (Formula 1)
Verstappen was second fastest on a day where Red Bull took more risks in experimenting with their setup under the new era of F1 regulations.
"I think we did as good a job as we could today, it was very warm and there were quite a few red flags," said the Dutchman.
"It was quite a good day, all pretty standard and we put quite a good amount of laps on the car."
"We won’t really use these tyre compounds for the race so again, it’s not really representative."
"It was fun to have a little battle with Carlos, I think he was on a long run with more fuel and I was on a shorter run and once I caught him he started using DRS, I think he wanted to race as well."
"So far the car is pretty good but there are always areas to work on."
Max Verstappen and Christian Horner on day two of the pre-season test in Bahrain. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
With the two official sessions completed, Haas set about for an extra hour of track time to make up for missing part of day one due to freight delays.
Returning veteran Kevin Magnussen bested Sainz's initial fastest lap with a time of 1:33.207 in the late-night test.
"It was so good to be back in a Formula 1 car and so good to be back with the team – I think it went really well," said Magnussen after his first session in a Formula 1 car since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2020.
"We had a good day of testing."
"I spent the first couple of runs getting back up to speed with a Formula 1 car but other than that it felt like I hadn’t been away."
"I could feel my neck at the end of it though – it kind of broke – but that’s expected."
"I’ll do another day tomorrow, break it even more, and then hopefully get in a little better shape for next week."
Kevin Magnussen during F1 pre-season in Bahrain. (LAT Photo/Haas F1 Team)
Along the grid, Alpine Racing showed off their special pink Bahrain livery, while Daniel Ricciardo missed another day of testing due to illness, which was later confirmed to be COVID-19.
The Australian will be cleared from isolation just in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend under the country's COVID protocols.
It was an interrupted day of testing, with four red flags across the day, including a planned red flag and restart procedure, which was initially aborted as Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton left it too late to exit pit lane and had to complete an extra formation lap.
It was a messy day for Mercedes, with Russell only 13th in the morning session before Hamilton brought the car up to speed into fifth fastest in the afternoon.
Lewis Hamilton jumps in the W13 during pre-season testing. (Steve Etherington/Mercedes F1 )
Hamilton said the radical new design with slim sidepods was not to blame for the mixed pace.
"The car definitely is different to the last week but I think it’s more so the tyres working with these temperatures, which are different here," said the seven-time world champion.
"So it’s a different machine this weekend – but I don’t think it’s the change that we made; I think that so much great work has gone into creating this upgrade."
"But it’s just hurdles that we’re coming across with this new kind of car that everyone’s facing in 2022."
"I’m confident in the team here, and back at the factory, that we’ll figure it out."
"But it’s definitely not going to be a smooth road."
The Formula 1 field returns for a final day of testing before the season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend.
