Testing Day 2 Review – By Joe Murphy
Charles Leclerc started off a very successful day for Ferrari as testing entered its second day. After Max Verstappen had eased to P1 on Wednesday, the second morning of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit actually came to an premature end with checks being needed on the track wear.
Leclerc himself, who had found a lap of 1:31.750s on the medium compound, ran over a drain cover on the approach to Turn 11 and left some debris on the circuit. Lewis Hamilton and even Leclerc himself were among the drivers to suffer damage from having run over this debris.
After a lengthly red flag stoppage and when all was said and done, Leclerc finished the session just over half a second clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with the Williams of Logan Sargeant, the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso completing the top five. Hamilton ended up claiming sixth.
It is also important to note that Verstappen was notably quicker than Leclerc’s Ferrari, although compounds used is something to consider.
The main talking point regarding cars was arguably Mercedes’ new and inspired front wing, which has garnered considerable praise from pundits and fans alike. The extent to which this is adding to overall performance? Well, the jury is still out on that one.
In the afternoon session, the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz made sure he wasn’t left out, also claiming P1, narrowly topping the standings over Perez, Hamilton and Norris, with Tsunoda and the Haas pairing bringing up the rear to little surprise.
A promising day for Ferrari on day two then, after Red Bull had set a benchmark yesterday. Other teams will be hoping to lay down a marker over the coming days before the curtain rises on this season, in a few weeks time. Haas are looking like the constructor that uses the most rubber, so far being the leading team in terms of laps completed.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 