Zhou Guanyu ended up fastest on Day 2 of F1 2023 Bahrain test after a late lap pushing Max Verstappen to second and Fernando Alonso in third.
Red Bulls Verstappen only ran in the afternoon session but was quick to go for fast lap and remained on top until the last 20 minutes when he was toppled by Alfa Romeos Guanyu on the C5 tyre with a 1m31.610s lap which was 0.040s quicker than the Dutchman.
Guanyu had a full day to him and did over 120 laps before ending early due to a false start at pit exit towards the end of the day. The Dutchman too spent a good time in the garage with Red Bull going extensive changes on the RB19 for his last run.
Aston Martin’s Alonso, meanwhile, dropped to third as they almost had another Verstappen-Alonso 1-2 like Day 1. AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries was fourth on the C4 tyres too, with Haas Nico Hulkenberg rounding the Top 5 – also using the C4 tyre.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was sixth with Williams’ Logan Sargeant in seventh, who like Guanyu and Alonso had a full day to him. There was a rehearsal for the American to op out of the car when the car is live with a problem but it turned out that they did have a small one.
The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was eighth from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the Top 10. The Haas of Kevin Magnussen was sandwiched in 11th with the other Alpine of Esteban Ocon in 12th.
Alpine had a quiet run but they likely have a problem with its rear especially during pit stop. The team were looking repeatedly at the videos towards the end of the day. Ocon was followed by Mercedes George Russell who caused a red flag during the afternoon session.
It was a hydraulic issue as he only managed 26 laps. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had his first chance in the RB19 but he didn’t go for a quick lap to be 14th from Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, who complained of rear balance during is run in the morning.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded the 17 runners for the day. Outside this, F1 tested red flag system along with aborted start and race start systems both at the end of the morning and afternoon sessions.
In terms of lap count, Sargeant did the most with 154 laps, but he was beaten by the AlphaTauri pair who collectively did 159 laps in the day where Tsunoda completed 85 and de Vries did 74.
#F1 #HappyTesting #F1Testing CHECKERED FLAG ! That's it for day 2. Zhou is fastest after a gloryrun on the C5 softest tyre. Bit of hydraulic trouble for Mercedes as Alfa Romeo got some late issues. More fun tomorrow for day 3, the final day of pre-season testing. #MsportXtra pic.twitter.com/PmBjK61y3B
— #MsportXtra © (@MsportXtra) February 24, 2023
Here’s how Day 1 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/