Sainz beats Hamilton and Leclerc, Williams tops 2nd day of testing

How it happened

Carlos Sainz was the first to take the track for the afternoon session during the second day of winter testing activities in Bahrain. The Spaniard took his Williams FW47 out on medium C3 tyres and went below the 1:30 threshold straight away, however, still 4 tenths and fraction adrift off Hamilton’s morning session leading time.

Charles Leclerc followed his former teammate out onto the track. He quickly made a comment on the radio regarding the rain which was falling over the Bahrain International Circuit. To which, his engineer, Bryan Bozzi replied that the precipitation would linger for around 20-30 minutes. out on the tarmac. His first time popped him up to P9 1.6 seconds off Hamilton’s pace. However, he then closed the gap to 1.3 seconds jumping in the order to P5.

On-track activity levels surged with Antonelli taking over the W16’s driving duties. The Italian youngster lock up into turn 1 flatspotting his tyres in the process. Liam Lawson also took his RB21 out for a run following the rather unexpected end to his morning session which was cut short by a water leak as team principal, Christian Horner stated to F1TV.

After a half an hour had transpired Sainz took the top of the timing sheets with a 1:29.366, 13 one thousandths of a second quicker than his Ferrari replacement, Hamilton.

Racing Bulls rookie, Isack Hadjar, and Alpine’s new driver, Jack Doohan were adding mileage under their belt, with the Australian going off track limits at turn four.

Within the first half hour of on-track action, the rain picked up prompting an onboard radio message to his team, Haas F1, reporting a “decent amount” of water falling on the track. Doohan was then brought in and Sauber rookie, Brazilian sensation, Gabriel Bortoleto took the track alongside with Ferrari driver, Leclerc.

The Monegasque moved up to his teammate and former teammate at the top, but it was not enough to take a place within the top three, with Russell’s morning session time still proving enough to keep Leclerc at bay. With almost an hour of the session having gone by, Lando Norris was still in the McLaren garage and along with Aston Martin driver, they were still to put a time on the board.

With the sky growing ever darker, Doohan went straight to the top 5 in the order, a second off the time set by Sainz earlier in the session. Up to this point in the afternoon all drivers had lapped with the C3 compound only, save for Bortoleto. 

Drivers struggle in the cold temperature of a wet Bahrain

Antonelli then set a time good enough for P5, just 1 one thousandth of a second and 6 one thousandths of a second off Leclerc and teammate Russell respectively. However he was not all that comfortable with him locking up in turn 10, going off in turn 13 and going off track again at turn 4. However, this is perfectly natural, with the Italian trying to find the limits of the track and learning how to judge the available grip which in changing conditions may shift from lap to lap.

At the one hour mark Norris took the track for the first time and in his first run he was on the 1:32’s, but Ferrari driver Leclerc closed up to his teammate, with a 1:29.4, just .083 off his former teammate Sainz' pace, who found himself spinning around in turn 1, losing it due to the rears not being warm enough to cope with the load demanded from them at that point. However, the Williams driver was able to return safely to the track.

The cool temperatures in Bahrain also gave Leclerc a hard time with the Monegasque spinning his car coming out of the last turn as he readied himself for a fast lap attempt.

After that, both he and Lawson went back into the garage, leaving Hadjar and Bortoleto, who would later be joined by Sainz, to run their cars out on the Middle-Eastern circuit.

For the most part teams later focused on getting mileage in the car and completing their running programs for the rest of the afternoon. When the clock had reached the 2 and a half hour mark Lawson climbed up to P6, one second off the time set by Sainz at the beginning of the afternoon session. 

Like Antonelli, Lawson also experienced issues going into turn one, locking up and going wide, after which the Red Bull Racing driver took to the pitlane and went into the garage. After that the only change in the timing sheets was Stroll bringing his AMR25 up to P6. 

For the remainder of the session Sauber focused on full fuel long runs with Bortoleto lapping around the 1:35’s. Underneath the Bahrain night sky, as the second and final testing session of the day drew to its end, Carlos Sainz still lead from Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with Norris emerging from the pitlane with fresh C3 tyres on, however race direction tested neutralisation systems, triggering a VSC, a SC and a red flag which brought the afternoon to an end.