Max second on day 2 of Bahrain test: 'It was pretty hot out there'
Published on 11 March 2022 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen completed 86 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit on the penultimate day of pre-season testing. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver was second quickest after setting a 1:34.011. Only Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was quicker (1:33.532). Both drivers clocked their fastest efforts on the C4 Pirelli tyres.
“Today was pretty hot and there were quite a few red flags”, said Max following a full day in the RB18. “We did as much as we could this morning, but with these warm conditions, it’s not really representative. At least we were able to do a lot of miles and we were able to try a lot of things.”
Max set his fastest lap on the soft C4 compound, a tyre the world champion felt happy on. “It was good but we won’t use this compound at next week’s Grand Prix so it’s not representative. Tomorrow will probably be different.”
During the afternoon session, Max briefly locked horns with Sainz out on track. “I think Carlos was on a long run with more fuel, so I was closing in on him. He used his DRS so I think he was also up for a little fight. We went for it, and why not? If you get a chance, you have to try out some stuff.”
Despite the new generation of cars requiring more track time to be fully understood and utilised, Max is fairly positive. “Up until now, it’s looked good, but there are always things to work on. Compared to Barcelona it already feels different, especially because the circuit characteristics here demand different things from the car. The rate of development during the year will be the most important, but of course we want to be competitive from the start.”
After lunch, half the teams opt to switch drivers, meaning Mercedes run Lewis Hamilton instead of George Russell, Ferrari bring in Carlos Sainz instead of Charles Leclerc, Lance stroll takes over from Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, Guanyu Zhou takes Bottas’ seat at Alfa Romeo and Kevin Magnusson makes his official return to Formula 1 after a year’s absence in the Haas.
After a quiet start to the session, Yuki Tsunoda is the first driver to exit the pits. Red Bull Racing fans have to wait a bit longer for the RB18 to feature on track; an hour and a half passes before the Dutchman takes to the Bahrain circuit.
At the halfway mark, Carlos Sainz sets the pace. His 1:33.532 is the quickest time of the session and will proof to be the fastest time of the day.
With 90 minutes to go, the first red flag of the afternoon is waved after Esteban Ocon parks his car trackside. After fifteen minutes, the Alpine is delivered back to the French outfit and the session is resumed.
The next red flag follows soon after, as Lando Norris stops his Mclaren at the end of the pitlane. Norris’ mechanics swiftly push the car and driver back to the garage and the session is resumed.
In the final hour, Max heads out on the C4 tyre and sets his quickest lap of the day. In the end, the Dutchman manages 86 laps and finishes the day in second, half a second off Sainz' best effort.
Pre-Season Test - Bahrain - Friday 11 March results:
01 Sainz Ferrari 1:33.532 60 02 Verstappen Red Bull 1:34.011 86 03 Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.064 70 04 Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.141 47 05 Ocon Alpine 1:34.276 111 06 Leclerc Ferrari 1:34.366 54 07 Norris McLaren 1:34.609 60 08 Vettel Aston Martin 1:36.020 46 09 Magnussen Haas 1:36.505 40 10 Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:36.802 120 11 Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:36.987 25 12 Schumacher Haas 1:37.846 23 13 Russell Mercedes 1:38.585 67 14 Latifi Williams 1:39.845 12 15 Zhou Alfa Romeo 1:39.984 48
