F1 Bahrain 2021 pre-season testing - Day 2
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The McLaren is on a proper lap now, a bunch of personal best on this one...
Norris seems to be carrying out a bunch of procedure tests at the moments, having been cruising around in second gear on that lap. Still yet to set a formal time.
Norris is back out too, having done a series of in-out laps over the first half of the afternoon session so far.
Alonso's back on track to begin his 82nd lap, the second highest of anyone today.
Stroll's done his best lap so far too, a 1m33.624s, on the C2 tyres. Aston has just 34 laps under its belt today, but the Canadian's making up for lost time.
Stopwatch
Bottas now does a 1m33.581s, just under 0.2s off Hamilton's best time, to go P11.
There's a lesser-spotted Bottas, attempting to put more miles on the clock for Mercedes. All has not been well today - or just, in general...
A little wide for Schumacher on the run down to Turn 8 on the previous lap, but he gets it right now. He's got the C4s on, so he's going for it.
We've got Alonso, Perez, Latifi, Schumacher, Gasly and Leclerc all out there, doing varying degrees of running. Thankfully, no sand, but also no external influences to make puns out of...
Lando Norris is the only driver yet to do a time, as he circulates on the C3 tyres. He's done 10 laps overall this afternoon.
Stopwatch
Giovinazzi, on 88 laps so far, is back on the road with a fresh set of mediums. He vaults up to P4, looking very comfortable out there, with a 1m32.486s.
Stopwatch
If we combine the best sector times, we get a 1m32.074s - Ricciardo's first sector, Latifi's second sector and Tsunoda's third.
This definitely feels like the testing equivalent of an FP2. All the fast times are in the bank, and the teams are trying out longer runs in preparation for the race here in two weeks' time.
Stopwatch
Schumacher logs a 1m33.398s, going up to P9 in the overall standings with C3 tyres.
Perez is circulating on the C2 rubber. He's on what appears to be a long run, understanding the RB16B's foibles over a race stint.
Stopwatch
Bottas has completed a first flying lap now but had a huge moment at Turn 11! Carried way too much speed into the corner and just understeered miles out wide. His time was good enough for 12th: a 1m36.105s on the hards.
One of the others out on track is Latifi in the Williams. Is it just me or does the FW43B livery have a touch of a Pacific about it? Perhaps if you squint...
Stopwatch
Elsewhere, Stroll is up to 10th with a 1m33.944s on the hard rubber.
Meanwhile, we have movement from Mercedes! Almost an hour into the afternoon session, Bottas finally heads out.
Norris had been circulating very slowly in the McLaren and now the timing screen suggests he has stopped. He's made it back to the pits but the car was sparking a lot.
Having just talked about Gasly, sure enough, his long run now ends and he's back in the pits!
Stroll heads back out on track now for Aston Martin. He's already completed the same number of laps as Vettel managed all morning and will be keen to far exceed the 10 the German managed.
Gasly and Leclerc are both in the middle of long stints on the hard tyres - but, despite having completed more tours, it is Gasly who is lapping fractionally quicker.
Stopwatch
Another improvement from Giovinazzi as he finds a further two tenths on the prototype tyres.
Breaking news
Before heading out on track for this afternoon session, Charles Leclerc said the new Ferrari is showing some "encouraging signs". Here's his take on where the team's at: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/leclerc-2021-ferrari-showing-promising-signs/5711006/
Stopwatch
Also going faster is Giovinazzi in the Alfa. He's been pounding around the Sakhir circuit all day and has just set the fastest of his 82 laps: a 1m33.383s.
We teased earlier the nine F1 drivers to make their debuts in the Bahrain GP, of which one became a world champion and one had their license revoked four races later. Before we reveal the full list, let's revel in the ambition of the all-CFD designed 2010 Virgin, which had a fuel tank that was too small to complete a full race distance...
It's being driven here by Autosport Engineering supplement contributor Lucas di Grassi, whose latest column will appear in this week's upcoming issue of the magazine.
It's being driven here by Autosport Engineering supplement contributor Lucas di Grassi, whose latest column will appear in this week's upcoming issue of the magazine.
Lucas di Grassi, Virgin, 2010 Bahrain GP
Photo by: Motorsport Images
It's still taking a bit of getting used to seeing an 'M Schumacher' on the F1 timing screens again, but the Haas youngster is on a faster lap on the mediums. He improves to a 1m34.072s and stays ninth.
We're now over half an hour into the second of today's sessions and all of the cars have been out, except for one: the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.
Lando Norris is running in a set of mediums, as Leclerc and Perez do some practice starts.
Perez too is on the hard tyres. We see a trend emerging... Alonso has come back to the pits, meanwhile.
Gasly is also running on the hard tyres and posts his first time, which is well into the mid 1m37s. Plenty of time to work down to the pace still.
The eyes have it...
Fernando Alonso, Alpine Bahrain F1 test
Photo by: Alpine F1 team
Now here comes Alonso, who is using the hard tyres on the Alpine.
Plenty of flow-vis paint on the Alfa, which at least the team will be able to see today - unlike yesterday amid the sandstorm.
Giovinazzi has posted his best time of the day so far, but his 1m35.693s still leaves him tenth.
Schumacher has put his first times on the board with medium tyres. A 1m35.463s puts him ninth, just ahead of Giovinazzi.
Giovinazzi now joins the fray too after completing a grand prix distance this morning. The Alfa man looks to be on the mediums.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Tom Howard, James Newbold, Stephen Lickorish
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