F1 Bahrain 2021 pre-season testing - Day 2
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Hamilton now the man with the most laps so far, having done 21 of them. Now Ricciardo's set a time, everyone's got a proper time on the board.
Ricciardo goes up to P4, while Mazepin cements P3 on a set of C4 tyres.
McLaren has dressed its car up as the 2000 Minardi, splashing a lot of flow-vis on the side to assess the sidepod aero.
Off track
Vettel has an off on the exit of turn 4, clipping some dust after a lock-up. Doesn't spin though, so that's progress.
Stopwatch
Alonso goes fastest with a 1m32.769s.
On the subject of F1 drivers as football teams, of course Hamilton Academical gets a mention. Tsunodaland is a bit of a stretch - Tsunodaland Til I Die will be the working title for the next Drive to Survive...
Breaking news
Alpine's 2021 car is doing a passable impression of Ligier's 1976 car. But why? Here's the story behind that hefty airbox: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/whats-behind-alpines-jumbo-airbox/5707965/
As soon as I write that, Alonso goes and spoils it all by going out on track. How DARE he continue with his allotted run plans.
Just Hamilton on track at the moment, and he's just going about his business. The seven-time championship winning team is trying to reclaim mileage after yesterday's horror show.
Ricciardo's got a little rake situated just behind the front wing. When you simulate a car in CFD, you do little "pressure slices" to see what the aero map looks like at each point along the car. These rakes help to correlate that.
Hamilton got up to fourth with a 1m34.559s, getting ahead of Latifi.
We're an hour into this session, and it's been moderately quiet. Latifi and Tsunoda have 16 laps each, the joint most, but the Japanese driver is about finish #17.
Ricciardo has been in and out of the pits today, still no official laptime. He did do a lap with a plastic bag on the front wing, however, so it's good to see McLaren preparing for every eventuality...
Last year, we played F1 drivers as football teams - West Bromwich Albon, Perez-ton North End, Norris City...we need a new game to play. Any suggestions?
Mazepin reclaims second in the timing screens, getting within 0.7s of Sainz's best.
Alonso is up to P2, FYI - still 1.1s off Sainz's current benchmark. Only our top four are on track at the moment.
Sainz pulls into the pits, bolts on those unmarked tyres, and heads back out. Hamilton returns to the pits too, but is shoved back into the garage.
Checo time.
Stopwatch
Sainz does our quickest lap of the day, a 1m33.072s, to go top. C3 tyres, CS top.
Ricciardo's back out too, still without a proper time on the board. Giovinazzi and Vettel are also yet to set a time this morning.
Hamilton P5 now, slowly getting dialled into the Merc after a tricky Friday.
Latifi and Tsunoda are on nine laps each, the most of anyone.
Just Lewis and Nicky on the circuit at the moment - Latifi overtakes Hamilton, so he's doing bits out there.
Breaking news
STOP. Do you like reading? We do, we do it all the time. You can be cool like us and read Alex Kalinauckas' feature and analysis of yesterday's running. Link here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-red-bull-took-f1s-first-2021-testing-honours-as-mercedes-stuttered/5701596/
Latifi gets himself up to P3, 0.2s off the fastest time with a set of C2 tyres - the fourth hardest compound available.
Reunited.
Pit stop
Alonso was going fastest, but lost a bunch of time in sector 2 and decided to retreat to the pitlane.
Vettel's back on track on those comparison C3 tyres - manufactured in Turkey rather than Romania. Pirelli's trying to make sure that the tyres from both factories perform the same...
Stopwatch
Mazepin goes fastest again, with a 1m34.517s.
Sainz, also known as Maroon 55 with that new Ferrari "livery", did his lap on the C3 tyres, as Alonso went P2 on C2s.
Stopwatch
Mazepin goes top briefly, but gets shuffled down the order by the two Spanish drivers on track. Sainz goes fastest with a 1m34.557s.
Anyway, here's Fernando again! He's joined on track by Sainz and a Haas.
I should point out that someone on Twitter moaned that we were "tweeting rubbish yesterday". Isn't that why people follow us in the first place?
Now, Giovinazzi has the circuit to himself - with an aero rake on the back that looks like Charlie Kelly's Pepe Silva conspiracy theory wall. Caaaaarol!
Stopwatch
Tsunoda went a second quicker, but Perez just logged a 1m36.113s before pitting to go top. The timing screens reckon he's only done one lap, which is not quite true...
Stopwatch
Tsunoda logs a 1m38.002s to climb to the top of the times.
Here's Checo now - who has a very tennis ball-yellow helmet so should be easy to spot this year. Red Bull logged 139 laps yesterday, and Perez adds one more to the tally.
Twitter
Ricciardo and Tsunoda are on the road at the moment, with 10 minutes of the session now gone.
Pit stop
Hamilton's still getting the laps in with the big fat aero rakes at the front, mapping the aero pressures around the front. Well, until he duly pits as well.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Tom Howard, James Newbold, Stephen Lickorish
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