Bahrain testing – Day 2: Magnussen ahead of Sainz, Hamilton and Verstappen wake up

At the end of a lively day, Kevin Magnussen, authorized to ride an hour longer, stole the best time from Carlos Sainz, who was the fastest man in the official 8 hours of driving. Discreet for a good part of the session, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen showed some during the last hour. But it is indeed Kevin Magnussen who

Published on 11/03/2022 à 17:02

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Bahrain testing – Day 2: Magnussen ahead of Sainz, Hamilton and Verstappen wake up

Carlos Sainz's Ferrari displays performances that we have not seen at the team for almost two years - Photo Diederik Van Ver Laan / DPPI

The reports are still illegible after this second day. One thing is certain however, the Ferrari are in shape, like a Carlos Sainz at the head of this second day of testing in Bahrain and author of the best official time before Kevin Magnussen do not shake up the hierarchy.

Magnussen back, Norris and McLaren on alternating current

The second session of the day was not punctuated by as many incidents as this morning but it was, however, more lively in view of the timesheet. Very quickly, Carlos Sainz and Ferrari lined up the times, with an ease that we haven't been used to seeing for a while. The Spaniard was in control of the session almost throughout these four hours of driving but it was Kevin Magnussen who topped the rankings in the Bahraini evening.

Authorized to drive an additional hour following freight delay Haas, the Dane, wearing soft tires (C4), took advantage of this extra time to beat the 1'33"532 with a best lap of 1'33"207. However, this data should be taken with a grain of salt since we do not know the quantity of fuel loaded by Kevin Magnussen's VF22 while his team had great difficulty appearing in the Top 10 since Barcelona...

BOOOM 💥 K-Mag posts the fastest lap of the day!

It's a ⏱ 1:33.207 – that's 0.325 quicker than Sainz's best. # HaasF1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/x4ehOsWFsa

—MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 11, 2022

Concerning Lewis Hamilton et Max Verstappen, we still had to wait until the last hour of driving to see them at work. The reigning world champion even approached the leader of the session, without forcing. During a day without major incident, the Dutchman will have completed 84 laps. Without overdoing it. Without showing too much. Same observation for Lewis Hamilton, who took over from Russell this afternoon. The Briton will have completed 47 laps, and set the fourth fastest time of the day. Alone Lance stroll was able to intervene, he who sometimes gave the impression of wanting to get the best time with great success.

The other question of the day concerns McLaren. Often stuck in his garage, Lando Norris struggled somewhat to string together the laps, following the brake cooling problems that the Woking team has been experiencing since the start of testing. The Briton found himself immobilized on the track twice, without consequence, but the problem facing his team does not seem to have been resolved. While Ricciardo is still unwell – he could hit the track tomorrow – Norris tried to do the job. He ends his day with 60 laps to his credit, and the seventh fastest time at the finish.

Note the productive day of Yuki tsunoda, author of 120 laps, more than any other driver, andEsteban Ocon (111), yet immobilized on the track one hour before the end of the session. No information has yet filtered out on the reasons for this shutdown.