The second day completed the 19 runners who are present in Bahrain for the F1 2023 pre-season test as Mercedes it trouble.
The second day in F1 2023 Bahrain pre-season test almost saw a repeat of Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso 1-2 from Day 1, but for a late push from Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Gunayu on the C5 tyres to end up fastest after a handsome day with 130 laps on board.
The Chinese driver oped for a better end tan is car not starting at pit exit wen e ventured out for is supposedly final run. The team brought in him to end his day, with Alfa Romeo going quietly with its job. Red Bull, meanwhile, finally faced some teething issue.
It was all fine during Sergio Perez’s first chance in the morning, but after Verstappen took over they closed off the garage – which they can only do incase of a bigger issue. Red Bull termed it as a teething issue without going into detail and they managed to fix it as well.
Verstappen did venture out but didn’t do a lot of laps. Aston Martin’s Alonso ad a full day and carried on a decent job to be third using the C3 tyres, same as Verstappen. Te team seemingly went trough its plan as increasing they look to be in a solid shape.
Behind them, AlphaTauri also ad a solid day with the most number of laps courtesy both Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda. The Dutchman went for quick laps on C4 tyre while the Japanese completed a full race run wit two stops to prepare for the Bahrain GP.
The Haas pair went on wit its run plan without any major issues, wile McLaren – despite the lack of straight up pace – ad a reliable day. The car is draggy which is upsetting their rhythm as they are not certain where the car will be on the grid next week.
Alpine too went trough its plan but Esteban Ocon’s run in the morning was slightly disrupted due to an issue wile the afternoon saw a pit stop problem which they were looking at especially tge rear end of the car. Williams, meanwhile, too ran just the one driver i.e Logan Sargeant.
He did the most number of laps as a single driver and went trough is whole plan including some performance runs. The team undertook a live car rehearsal at the end but found a problem which they fixed up quickly in an otherwise trouble-free day.
Among everyone, Ferrari were very quiet wit no glory runs at their disposal. Carlos Sainz set the pace in the morning but was pushed down, wile Charles Leclerc didnt even o for it. They spent the day reliably looking at different set-ups and tyre performance/degradation.
But Mercedes did not have the best of the days after a good first day. Lewis Hamilton faced balance issues especially at the rear during his morning run, while George Russell’s day was cut short due to hydraulic issue. There is some serious discussions ongoing about their performance and the team will be working overnight to look at the data.
Guanyu: “We are well aware this is testing, of course, and everyone is trying different settings, but it feels nice to see my name and that of the team up there in the timing sheets. It’s been a positive day overall, we got more mileage in and went through all the targets and tasks we had set for ourselves, so I can say I am happy. The car felt reasonably good, both in daytime and night-time conditions, and I felt more confident pushing as the day progressed. Today was the final day of pre-season testing for me, and I am very much looking forward to the start of the season next week. I feel ready and excited about the new campaign and I can’t wait to be racing again.”
Verstappen: “Today we focussed on the smaller details and took little steps. Again, the car was responding well to everything we did. We learnt a lot for next weekend and of course for future races as well. I’m very pleased with the testing period, every time I jumped in the car I felt comfortable and could push instantly. A massive credit to everyone back at the factory, working throughout the whole of winter and even last year to prepare the car we have now. To see it on track and how it behaves on track is great. We’ll have to see how quick we will be next week but I’m feeling positive.”
Alonso: “It was a good day for us with a lot of laps completed – just what you need in a new car. We had a busy programme and tried a lot of different things. After a long winter it is good to get strong mileage under your belt early on and there is no better training than driving a Formula One car. I now feel fitter and sharper ahead of next week, which will be my first race with Aston Martin and I am very excited about that. I have another half day tomorrow so we will use this to continue learning and collecting as much data as possible. I am looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow afternoon.”
De Vries: “It’s been another positive day, even though we had a red flag. The session was suspended, but we still managed to get through our programme. We were able to test quite a few things, so in terms of our day we are happy, and in terms of performance it is hard to say. We have one more day of testing tomorrow, so hopefully we can complete everything and put it all together for the race.”
Hulkenberg: “Today was a positive day – it was a good, busy afternoon where we got lots of things done I feel and a lot of interesting data collected as well. Also for myself I’m building more of a connection with the car and trying it in different conditions, as you do in testing. I don’t think a qualifying run is the number one priority for me – I’ve done enough and I know what’s coming – and I drive in the morning tomorrow where the temperatures are not as representative.”
Sainz: “It’s been another positive day. Reliability was again very good and we’ve been able to explore all the set-ups we targeted to test. We keep exploring the limits of the car and finding potential areas where we can maximise performance. The main target is to keep up the good work tomorrow and get ready for next week.“
Sargeant: “I think today tops the most kilometres I’ve ever done in a day. I was able to physically hold up well. We got through so much running which is a testament to the team and the hard work they’ve put in. We moved in the right direction the whole day and it was really positive. We looked at shorter runs this morning and considering where the track temp was, I was relatively happy with how the car was feeling. Throughout the long runs this afternoon the car was in a good window and I could drive it exactly how I wanted to. There are still somethings we’re chasing but I’ll leave that up to Alex tomorrow. Overall, I’m really happy with where we’ve got the car and I can’t wait to go racing next week.”
Leclerc: “We ran various tests today, with our main focus on the car’s set-up. We are working hard and it’s still too early to make any judgement yet. It was good to get some more laps down and we will keep pushing forward by analysing our data ahead of the last day of testing tomorrow.“
Piastri: “It was a solid day for the team with everything running smoothly. Today’s session has increased my learning of the car and I feel like I am improving with every lap. It was good to focus on different areas throughout my drive, including the race simulation. We are going in a good direction which is pleasing to see on day two of testing and I’m looking forward to getting back out on track in the session tomorrow morning.”
Magnussen: “It feels good but it’s always hard to see where you are against your competitors. So far, we feel good and we’re happy with what we’ve got. We need to do more work to understand the car better and today we got into a different area, trying things we didn’t yesterday, so we’re learning. There have been very few problems and we’re now getting into more performance related testing which is nice and more interesting for us.”
Russell: “Unfortunately, we had an hydraulic issue this afternoon which cost us some running. Even though we didn’t complete our full programme, we uncovered some interesting things in the data throughout the day. That is a positive and we will analyse these overnight with the aim of finding lap time. We haven’t unlocked everything yet in the W14 and everyone is working hard to do so and maximise our final day of testing tomorrow.”
Perez: “I was happy to be back behind the wheel of the RB19 this morning. We mainly focussed on the long run, to make sure the car was reliable and that was the main priority. The car feels good, we have a good pace and hopefully we can get some good fine tuning in on Saturday. There are little differences to the RB18, which are mainly dictated by the change to the tyres but generally speaking it is pretty similar. I am happy in the car and I think we are in a good place. Now I am looking forward to getting a full day in the car tomorrow. We will do some good simulations for the race and try to prepare as much as possible for qualifying too.”
Hamilton: “It was a difficult morning. The hot temperatures made it challenging with the tyres overheating, as we often see here in Bahrain. We got through our run plan though and it was good to get that mileage in. Everyone is working incredibly hard, staying focused, and we’re discovering everything we can about the W14. We’ve got lots of work planned for the final day of pre-season testing tomorrow.”
Norris: “It’s been a productive day for everyone in the team. I did a lot of testing on a number of different setups as planned and we also put in a solid number of laps which is positive. I’m looking forward to heading into tomorrow’s running in the evening to finish off our run plan.”
Tsunoda: “This morning we achieved the most laps compared to the rest of the field, so it was a good session. This also allowed us to catch up on our programme, as we fell short on the number of laps we wanted to run yesterday. Today we mainly focused on long runs where we found some limitations, but at the same time, there are positives to take from the good data we gathered for the race, which we can continue to build on tomorrow. Overall, I’m happy with my driving and feedback to the team, which is constantly improving. I will continue to work like this, and I’m excited to start working on short runs tomorrow.”
Here’s how Day 1 of Bahrain Test panned out
Here’s how Day 2 of Bahrain Test panned out
Here’s what drivers said after Day 1
Here’s the Bahrain F1 test line-up: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-bahrain-test-driver-line-up-running-schedule-and-more/