Sainz gives Ferrari first P1 of 2023
Ferrari has claimed its first P1 of 2023 thanks to Carlos Sainz, who edged out Williams’ Logan Sargeant to be fastest on the second morning of pre-season Formula 1 testing.
Sainz led for the majority of the session with his 1:32.486s set near midway the time to beat at the 5.412km Sakhir Circuit.
He finished just 0.063s ahead of Sargeant, who put Williams in the recently unfamiliar position of second on the C5 tyre.
The American rookie was given the chance to show his true pace and set a purple second sector on his way to a solid second place after 74 laps in the cockpit.
After almost knocking off Max Verstappen on day 1, Fernando Alonso remained near the top of the timesheets for Aston Martin.
This time Alonso had to settle for P3, but remained less than half a second off the pace.
Behind the top three was Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, who finished three tenths ahead of the fellow Ferrari powered Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Estaban Ocon showed better pace in the Alpine than yesterday and was able to beat Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to get sixth.
After Verstappen topped both days, Perez more focused on race runs settled for seventh ahead of Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton could only manage eighth being 1.468s off the pace, but Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the car was “out of balance” after “not finding the right setup” for the seven-time world champion.
However, Wolff did reveal the proposing dramas that caused last year’s car so much drama showed no signs in the new W14.
McLaren’s Lando Norris did not try to set the timesheets alight and finished ninth, more than three seconds off the pace.
AlphaTauri and Yuki Tsunoda finished last, but were focused on long runs, recording the most laps of the morning with 85.
The next best lap tally was 76 from Red Bull’s Perez, while Sargeant, Sainz and Lewis Hamilton all broke the 70-lap barrier.
The first four hours of the session were trouble free until red flags arrived briefly with just over 10 minutes to go with the FIA causing a red-flag test.
This was proceeded by drivers doing a number of practice starts where Sainz had a close call with McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Sainz put the first time on the board on a set of C3 Prototype tyres before Magnussen improved the benchmark by more than three seconds.
Sargeant was the first to roll out on softs, but wasted the opportunity with a big lockup at Turn 10.
On C3’s Alonso continued to show strong pace to sit second, but he and the rest of the field were soon blown away by Sainz.
The #55 Ferrari kept chipping away until stealing P1 from Magnussen by being the first to record a 1:32s lap time.
The Spanish stranglehold at the top was broken by Zhou, who surged to second in his Alfa Romeo.
Although no incidents, a number of cars did lose some bodywork with the likes of Mercedes, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTuari forced to do minor repairs.
However, no interruptions arrived until the red flag test at the end, which disrupted the quiet run home.
With seven minutes to go, all teams except for Aston Martin, Red Bull and AlphaTauri completed some practice starts.
It was a quiet end to a quiet morning at Bahrain.
The F1 paddock enjoys an hour’s break for lunch before another four and 15 minutes of running in more representative track conditions in the evening commences at 23.10 AEDT tonight.
One of the 10 drivers in action will be Australia’s Oscar Piastri, who revealed he had “lots to learn” after finishing 18th in his first day as a McLaren rookie.
2023 Formula 1 pre-season testing – day 2 morning session results
- Sainz, Ferrari, 1m32.486s – 70 laps
- Sargeant, Williams, 1m32.666s – 74 laps
- Alonso, Aston Martin, 1m32.969s – 64 laps
- Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m33.170s – 43 laps
- Magnussen, Haas, 1m33.442s – 67 laps
- Ocon, Alpine, 1m33.490s – 49 laps
- Perez, Red Bull, 1m33.751s – 76 laps
- Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m33.954s – 72 laps
- Norris, McLaren, 1m35.522s – 65 laps
- Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, 1m37.687s – 86 laps
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