Max third fastest on Friday morning of Bahrain test

Published on 11 March 2022 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen clocked the third quickest time in the morning session of the second day of the Bahrain pre-season test. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver completed 45 laps. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was quickest, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second.

Prior to the session the FIA confirms that Haas is allowed to make up for lost time by being granted an extra hour of track time tonight, an extra hour prior to the Saturday session and two hours following the session. The American team suffered logistical issues that prevented them for running on Friday morning.

As tradition dictates, the opening stages of the morning session sees teams sending their cars out on track with aero-rakes. In combination with flow-vis paint, the engineers hope to get a better understanding of the aerodynamic forces.

During the first half of the session, it’s business as usual with the teams trying to complete as many laps as possible. However, progress is halted when the first red flag of the day comes out. Nicolas Latifi goes off track at turn twelve, after which his Williams catches fire. The Canadian is quick to depart from his car. Together with some marshals, he extinguishes the fire.

At the halfway mark, Esteban Ocon is the pace setter in his Alpine. The Frenchman set his time of the C4 tyre, closely followed by Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver’s effort was completed on the C3 compound. Meanwhile, Max has completed 21 laps, but only used the harder C2 Pirellis.

With an hour and forty-five minutes remaining, the stricken Williams is salvaged and the track is opened. Apart from Vettel’s Aston Martin stranding on a run-off area, the second half of the morning is uneventful up until the red flag that is waved in the closing stages.

It turns out to be an unannounced systems check from race control. Once the track is cleared, Valtteri Bottas causes a subsequent red flag after coming to a halt in his Alfa Romeo. Race control opt not to restart the session.

Pre-Season Test - Bahrain - Friday 11 March, morning results:

01 Ocon         Alpine         1:34.276   59
02 Leclerc      Ferrari        1:34.366   54
03 Verstappen   Red Bull       1:35.874   45
04 Vettel       Aston Martin   1:36.020   46
05 Norris       McLaren        1:36.354   29
06 Tsunoda      AlphaTauri     1:36.802   44
07 Bottas       Alfa Romeo     1:36.987   25
08 Schumacher   Haas           1:37.846   23
09 Russell      Mercedes       1:38.585   67
10 Latifi       Williams       1:39.845   12