Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz of Spain steers his car for a Formula One pre season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

The Scuderia Ferrari drivers have topped the second day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Morning session

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the morning session, but he was affected by a loose drain cover that caused damage -although nothing too serious- to his SF-24.

The whole situation prompted a red flag, and the session was finalized earlier than expected. However, an additional hour of time was added to the afternoon stint.

Sergio Perez didn’t follow his teammate’s footsteps and placed 4th fastest, more than a second behind Leclerc. However, as this is pre-season and we don’t exactly know the profile of tests the team ran during the session, we can’t take those results as a true representation of what’s to come when lights go out at the Bahrain Grand Prix next week.

Further back, Yuki Tsunoda focused on long runs and achieved consistent timings accross the board.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton also worked on race pace simulations.

PosDriverTeamTime
1Charles LeclercFerrari1:31.750
2Oscar PiastriMcLaren+0.578
3Logan SargeantWilliams+0.828
4Sergio PerezRed Bull+1.129
5Fernando AlonsoAston Martin+1.303
6Lewis HamiltonMercedes+1.475
7Guanyu ZhouSauber+1.965
8Pierre GaslyAlpine+2.054
9Nico HulkenbergHaas+5.759
10Yuki TsunodaRB F1 Team+6.324
Pre-season testing, Day 2, Morning results

Afternoon session

The day was for Ferrari to lead the timing charts as Carlos Sainz topped the afternoon stint with a time of 1:29.921, but he did so in the C4 compound tire, used also by Williams’ Logan Sargeant and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.

The Spaniard said that his SF-24 is a “more driveable car,” and that the team’s objectives are “focused on the long runs” and not so much on finding more performance.

McLaren’s Lando Norris managed consistent runs across the board and finished +1.335s (C3) behind Sainz, in P4.

Hamilton improved on his morning runs and finished higher up in the overall standings, just +1.145s (C3) behind Pérez, who placed second overall by less than a second to Sainz.

Pre-season testing resumes on Friday at 8 AM CET.

PosDriverTeamTimeTire
1Carlos SainzFerrari1:29.921C4
2Sergio PerezRed Bull+0.763C3
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes+1.145C3
4Lando NorrisMcLaren+1.335C3
5Daniel RicciardoRB F1+1.440C4
6Charles LeclercFerrari+1.829C3
7Lance StrollAston Martin+2.108C3
8Esteban OconAlpine+2.140C3
9Valtteri BottasSauber+2.306C3
10Oscar PiastriMcLaren+2.407C3
11Logan SargeantWilliams+2.657C4
12Fernando AlonsoAston Martin+3.132C3
13Guanyu ZhouSauber+3.794C3
14Pierre GaslyAlpine+3.883C3
15Kevin MagnussenHaas+6.690C3
16Nico HulkenbergHaas+7.588C3
17Yuki TsunodaRB F1+8.153C3
Pre-season testing, Day 2, Overall results