Winter testing D2 – Sainz steals the best time from Ferrari, Hadjar studious

He had already shown the tip of his nose this Thursday morning behind George Russell and Lewis Hamilton... Cette fois, Carlos Sainz decided to sound the charge to end this second day of pre-season testing as the fastest man on track.

Despite the constant threat of rain and a few drops of rain that fell here and there, the Madrilenian did not take long to stand out. He only needed 27 minutes to wipe Lewis Hamilton from first place with a lap of 1'29"366.

As if that wasn't enough, the new recruit of Williams did it again a few moments later with a new improvement, 1'29"348 this time, never to be caught again. From then on, Carlos Sainz, like most of the drivers, focused on the long stints, completing this Thursday with 127 laps. After completing the whole day, he will be rested on Friday while Alex Albon will take over. His next appearance at the wheel of the FW47 will therefore be in Melbourne for the first Grand Prix of the season (March 14-16).

Charles Leclerc followed a similar program to that of his former teammate with a few fast laps at the start of the session. The opportunity for him to ride at a level close to that of his partner Lewis Hamilton. The Monegasque finished third, 83 thousandths behind Carlos Sainz. The Mercedes completed the Top 5 with George Russell 4th ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli who continues his adaptation.

The afternoon was also very studious for Isack Hadjar who completed 94 laps in 4 hours this Thursday. Tenth at just over 1 seconds, the Tricolore worked a lot on the race pace. It was only at the end of the session that he managed to improve to move up the rankings and ensure a presence in the final Top 3.

There is one last day left in these pre-season tests. It will be this Friday with once again two 4-hour sessions. See you from 8:00 a.m., still on AUTOhebdo.

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