BAHRAIN TEST – Guanyu Zhou sets the pace in closing half hour going four hundredths ahead of Max Verstappen
Guanyu Zhou was fastest on the second day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Chinese driver was the only driver to set a time on the soft tyre with a 31.610, putting him four hundredths ahead of Max Verstappen’s fastest time.
Zhou’s time came on the C5 soft tyre in the closing half-hour which moved him ahead of the two time champion. Although the Alfa Romeo driver day was cut short when the car stopped at the end of the second session, the car wouldn’t move out of the pit lane because of an engine issue.
Verstappen went straight to the top of the times on the C3 medium tyres, but that time wasn’t set in the conditions which qualifying takes place next weekend. The Red Bull has proven reliable throughout the test which allowed Verstappen to go straight into his performance runs having replaced Sergio Perez for the fourth session of the test.
Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin third half a second behind Verstappen, with the Alpha Tauri of Nyck de Vries going fourth and Nico Hulkenberg fifth. Alonso used the C3 harder medium tyre as he had a full day running, Hulkenberg meanwhile pushed Carlos Sainz to sixth.
Although Ferrari may not be grabbing the headlines and Sainz almost nine-tenths off, the car looks to be solid suggesting the Italian team might not do their qualifying simulations until Saturday evening or even FP2 next Friday.
Charles Leclerc was ninth fastest over half a second behind Sainz, with both drivers completing around the same number of laps. Leclerc however appeared to have more of the long run programme compared to Sainz.
Logan Sargent spilt the two Ferrari’s, the Williams driver a tenth and three-quarters behind Sainz and ahead of Leclerc by roughly the same margin. The American also completed the most laps of any driver with a hundred and fifty-four. That put him half a second ahead of Sainz.
However, Sargent joined Zhou on the sidelines because a suspected electrical issue the team was testing, while Zhou was recovered from pit exit by the Alfa Romeo mechanics following an engine problem.
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren ninth going a hundredth faster than the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. The two Alpine’s being spilt by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, the Dane nearly half a tenth slower than Gasly but four hundredths faster than Esteban Ocon.
It was a mixed day for Mercedes George Russell going thirteenth and Lewis Hamilton fifteenth. However CEO and team principal Toto Wolff insisted they were hiding their true place, their can be no hiding the hydraulic issue which caused Russell to stop on track and end his day with ninety minutes to go.
Russell was however a tenth faster than Sergio Perez, the Mexican completing his test programme at the lunch break. Perez spilt the two Mercedes going two tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton.
Lando Norris was sixteenth going over a tenth faster than Yuki Tsunoda.
Teams have eight and a half hours of testing and three hours of practice, before qualifying for next weekend’s opening race in Bahrain