While Mercedes got mixed reviews, McLaren, Alpha Tauri, and Aston Martin continue to impress.
SAKHIR, Bahrain—The second day of the Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Sakir International Circuit was filled with red flags and lost engine covers. But when the smoke cleared, a familiar name topped the timesheets.
Valtteri Bottas needed a good result to prove that he could take on teammate and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton this season, and the Finn did just that.
Bottas topped the days’ timesheets with a 1:30:289 fastest time, running a total of 58 laps. This was just a tenth ahead of Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, who took second, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who continued to improve by taking third.
McLaren’s Lando Norris proved in his fourth-place finish that the car just might be a contender in this season’s world championship. The Briton finished just ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi of Alfa Romeo, who was four-tenths off Bottas’s pace.
Charles Leclerc got back to normality in his Ferrari by placing sixth, five-tenths down from the top. Nicholas Latifi, in his only day testing this week, finished seventh. In his first drive with his new team, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was just behind Latifi and took eighth with nearly the same time as the Canadian. The last two top ten finishers, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso took the top two positions in the morning session but only could manage ninth and tenth for the day.
And then there was Lewis Hamilton, who had another rough day. Hamilton spun and beached his Mercedes in the morning and ended up finishing over three seconds down for the day.
Things were even more dramatic for Perez, who lost his engine cover while running with hard tires. Latifi escaped the debris when Perez’s cover lifted off in front of him while he was behind the Red Bull driver.
Both Hamilton and Perez’s incidents brought out the red flag twice, with Hamilton’s period lasting the longest at 15 minutes.
The final test will be on Sunday, and the biggest question is whether defending champ Hamilton can get off the snide.
