Leclerc bests Norris on second day of testing

This time it was Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) who set the fastest lap on the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. The Ferrari driver lowered yesterday’s benchmark, set by Lando Norris (McLaren), by three tenths, with Norris finishing second today. The Monegasque driver completed his lap in 1:34.273 on the C3 compound, 0.511s ahead of Norris, who set his time on C2. Norris also recorded the fastest time of the day on the C1 compound, stopping the clock at 1:35.795.

The use of the three available slick compounds, the hardest in the Pirelli range and most suited to the Sakhir circuit, followed the same pattern as yesterday. The C1 accounted for 21% of today’s mileage, with a total of 259 laps completed. The C2 and C3 split the remaining laps: 28% (345 laps) for the former and 52% (649 laps) for the latter.

With Thursday’s session completed, the total number of tyre sets used rises to 87 for the C3, 49 for the C2 and 27 for the C1. No team chose to fit the Intermediates for installation laps today.

For most of the session, teams focused on set-up runs, but there were also some significant stints which, due to their length, could be representative of race conditions. Racing Bulls completed a 22-lap run on C1, Cadillac managed 19 laps on C2, and Ferrari completed 19 laps on C3.

The four drivers who did not take to the track yesterday ran today. Remaining in the garage this time were Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari).

Weather and track conditions were very similar to those on the opening day, with track temperatures ranging between 25°C and 42°C and air temperatures between 24°C and 32°C. Testing resumes tomorrow at 10:00 local time and will conclude at 19:00.