MANAMA : Haas returnee Kevin Magnussen went fastest on the second day of the Bahrain Formula One pre-season test, pushing Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz off the top of the timesheets during extra running after the official end of track action.
The U.S.-owned team have been allowed to test for a total of four extra hours as they were unable to hit the track during the first half of Thursday’s opening day after their air freight, including their car, arrived late.
The ran an hour extra on Friday and plan to start an hour early and put in two extra hours during Saturday’s final day of the test.
The official session hours are 1000-1900 local time.
Sainz had been fastest until Magnussen’s late one minute, 33.207-second flier, as Ferrari continued to live up to their rivals’ hype that they are the pre-season favourites.
The Spaniard lapped the floodlit Sakhir desert track in one minute 33.532 seconds, 0.479 seconds quicker than Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was fourth with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, struggling with “porpoising” in his dramatically redesigned Mercedes, going fifth quickest.
FERRARI HYPE
Ferrari have consistently shown strong pace and reliability, both at last month’s first test in Barcelona and now in Bahrain, which will also host the season opener on March 20.
However, they have been quick to play down the hype.
Lap times in testing are notoriously difficult to read.
But, in addition to their raw pace, Ferrari’s car has also looked the most assured and easiest to drive of all.
Red Bull are yet to show their hand, though, as are reigning champions Mercedes, who are still fettling their challenger after turning up in Bahrain with a bold new design featuring dramatically shrunken sidepods.
Friday’s running was disrupted by four red flags.
Nicholas Latifi stopped with the brakes of his Williams on fire before lunch, ending the team’s programme early.
Valtteri Bottas was responsible for the second stoppage in the closing stages of the morning session, brining his Alfa Romeo to a halt after completing a practice start.
Esteban Ocon parked up his Alpine as a precaution in the evening while Lando Norris brought out the fourth red flag of the day when he ground to a halt in his McLaren at the pit exit.
(Reporting by Abhishek Takle; editing by Ken Ferris)
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