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Formula 1

F1 testing latest: Mercedes returns to the top with Bottas

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
11 min read

The latest from day two of 2021 pre-season Formula 1 testing in Bahrain. All times Sakhir local time.

17:45 There’s a lot been made of Mercedes’ shaky start to the F1 season, but Valtteri Bottas has just gone fastest of all in Bahrain with a time of 1m30.289s.

He leads Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris.

1 Bottas (Mercedes) 1m30.289s
2 Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1m30.413s
3 Norris (McLaren) 1m30.586s
4 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m30.693s
5 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m30.760s
6 Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m30. 903s
7 Perez (Red Bull) 1m31.682s
8 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
9 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
10 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s

Earlier updates:

17:23 We have a flurry of activity in the final hour of this afternoon session, where night has fallen.

The top five in the field have switched their focus to qualifying simulations running on the softest C5 compound tyre, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris trading fastest times between them.

Antonio Giovinazzi is currently third for Alfa Romeo, ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc has put in 62 laps across the afternoon for Ferrari and sits sixth, with McLaren’s morning pacesetter Daniel Ricciardo shuffled down to seventh.

1 Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1m30.413s
2 Norris (McLaren) 1m30.586s
3 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m30.760s
4 Bottas (Mercedes) 1m31.245s
5 Perez (Red Bull) 1m31.682s
6 Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m31. 897s
7 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
8 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
9 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m32.406s
10 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s

17:43 We’ve had the first red flag of the afternoon as a result of some debris on the main straight.

Sergio Perez was close behind Nicholas Latifi’s Williams and the turbulent air ripped the engine cover off the Red Bull. Perez has so far completed 95 laps and is sitting fourth on the board.

Lando Norris still leads the way for McLaren, with his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in fourth place having previously occupied the top spot for most of the day.

1 Norris (McLaren) 1m31.238s
2 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m31.533s
3 Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1m31.683s
4 Perez (Red Bull) 1m1m31.926s
5 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
6 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
7 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
8 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m32.605s
9 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
10 Schumacher (Haas) 1m32.883s

17:17 Same car, different driver: we have a new pacesetter!

Lando Norris has displaced his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at the top of the timesheets, setting a laptime of 1m31.329s on the medium tyre.

Meanwhile, Antonio Giovinazzi has just leapfrogged up to the second-fastest time on the board with a 1m31.533s while passing the 100-lap mark for Alfa Romeo.

Valtteri Bottas has shuffled his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton – who ran in this morning’s session – out of the top 10.

1 Norris (McLaren) 1m31.238s
2 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m31.533s
3 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
4 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
5 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
6 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
7 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
8 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m32.851s
9 Schumacher (Haas) 1m32.883s
10 Bottas (Mercedes) 1m32.895s

17:00 We’re definitely in the long-run territory now as the clock runs down to the halfway point of this afternoon’s running in Bahrain.

Daniel Ricciardo still leads the way for McLaren, while his team-mate Lando Norris set his first timed lap of the afternoon on the medium C3 tyres, slotting into 13th place on the timesheet.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi is edging closer to the 100 lap mark, at 97 laps so far today.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
4 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m32.486s
5 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
6 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
7 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
8 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
9 Schumacher (Haas) 1m33.398s
10 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s

16:28 Not much to report from the last half an hour of running in Bahrain, with Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren still holding the fastest time of the day so far.

His team-mate Lando Norris, who took over running after the lunchbreak, had earlier ventured out onto the track but did not set a time.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi has set the fourth fastest time so far, while Valtteri Bottas has returned to the garage for Mercedes after 11 laps of running.

Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc are still plugging away at some long run simulations for AlphaTauri and Ferrari, with them currently sitting 13th and 14th in the timesheets respectively.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
4 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m32.486s
5 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
6 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
7 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
8 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
9 Schumacher (Haas) 1m33.398s
10 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s

16:00 We’re now one hour into the afternoon session of the second day of testing and top spot still belongs to Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren.

Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez are all on long race simulation runs, while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has just taken to the track for the first time this afternoon.

Lance Stroll is also racking up the laps in the Aston Martin, after a difficult morning where Sebastian Vettel was largely confined to the garage with gearbox related problems.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
4 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
5 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
6 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
7 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
8 Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1m33.143s
9 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
10 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m33.944s

15:30 The afternoon session of the second day of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain is underway, with a raft of driver changes after the lunchbreak.

Charles Leclerc – who was the first driver to hit the track this afternoon on used prototype tyres –  has taken over the Ferrari from Carlos Sainz, while Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher and Pierre Gasly will also take part in this afternoon’s running for their respective teams.

Daniel Ricciardo still holds the fastest time of the day so far for McLaren, while Schumacher set the fastest time of the six new runners for Haas, slotting in in ninth.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
4 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
5 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
6 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
7 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
8 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
9 Schumacher (Haas) 1m35.076s
10 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m36.018s

14:00 Much like Valtteri Bottas the day before, Sebastian Vettel did manage to get back out on track at the very end, but ended the session at 10 laps – not helped also by a very brief red flag at the end, seemingly for an FIA test.

There was no change in the top five – or in the order, really – in the final half an hour, but Yuki Tsunoda did head out on C4 tyres and improve slightly. He stayed fifth but just 0.469s behind session pace-setter Daniel Ricciardo.

We’ll be back in an hour for another four-hour session, presumably featuring six new drivers.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
4 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
5 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s
6 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
7 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
8 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m36.018s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

13:30 Things are getting compact and exciting-ish out front, with both Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda breaking into the top five.

Perez’s new best effort is on fresh C2s, while Tsunoda – who’s had a couple of minor offs at Turn 11 during the day – used C3s for his.

Also of note is Nicholas Latifi wheeling out the C5s, but his first push lap on the softest available compound goes nowhere as he makes a mess out of Turn 11, and his second push lap is some way off what he’d managed on the C4s previously.

Nearly every car has logged 40 laps for the day now. The only two exceptions are Perez with 39 and Sebastian Vettel with a much more worrying six – still no sign of the Aston Martin AMR21 following its “gearbox-related” troubles earlier.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s
4 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
5 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.769s
6 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
7 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
8 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m37.911s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

Earlier updates:

13:00 The red flag was lifted around 15 minutes after Hamilton’s off and the session has been continuing in a relatively straightforward manner since.

In fact, it may not prove a particularly significant setback for Mercedes because Hamilton is back on track again already, circulating on a set of new C3s.

The order out front is relatively unchanged, apart from Williams driver Nicholas Latifi having had a go out on C4s and moving up to third place.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s
4 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
5 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
6 Perez (Red Bull) 1m33.248s
7 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
8 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m34.411s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m37.911s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

12:19 Ah, two updates in a very short span of time, but that’s because testing has gone a bit wacky.

Very shortly after the spins for Carlos Sainz and Nicholas Latifi, we have one for reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and it is even more consequential.

It is a relatively slow spin at Turn 13, but it’s enough to get him rolling into the run-off rear first and he ends up in the gravel trap, from which his Mercedes W12 cannot emerge without assistance.

So that’s our first red flag of the day, and a new setback for Mercedes, which has been enjoying a much better day until this moment.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
4 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
5 Perez (Red Bull) 1m33.248s
6 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
7 Latifi (Williams) 1m33.498s
8 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m34.794s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m37.911s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

Earlier updates:

12:15 It’s been a rather tidy start to the day of testing so far, but that has changed in the last 20 minutes.

First, Carlos Sainz has had a half-spin in his Ferrari exiting Turn 7, putting what was a presumably premature end to his run.

But Sainz has gotten away relatively lightly compared to Latifi, who straightlined a big chunk of that sector before also spinning at Turn 7 the following lap as he looked to get onto the throttle on the exit kerb.

No outside damage to the car, but Latifi has been forced to limp back to the pits with a significantly flat-spotted front left tyre and a properly shredded front right.

Daniel Ricciardo has fitted a new set of C3s and has promptly gone top again.

1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s
2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
3 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
4 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
5 Perez (Red Bull) 1m33.248s
6 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
7 Latifi (Williams) 1m33.498s
8 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m34.794s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m37.911s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

11:53 Aston Martin has confirmed that Sebastian Vettel’s current low lapcount is not planned, but is rather a consequence of “an issue related to the gearbox”. The screens are currently up in the Aston Martin garage as the team works on the problem.

Certainly not ideal, but also curious in the context of a gearbox problem basically reducing its supplier Mercedes to half a day of running yesterday.

Speaking of Mercedes, though, Lewis Hamilton is leading today’s mileage leaderboards with 33 laps so far, so it’s certainly been a much more positive morning than yesterday.

Daniel Ricciardo had briefly taken the lead, his McLaren freshly free of flo-viz, but it was not for long – as Fernando Alonso fitted a fresher set of the C2s and has gone quicker again.

1 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s
2 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.598s
3 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
4 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
5 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s
6 Latifi (Williams) 1m33.498s
7 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m34.794s
8 Perez (Red Bull) 1m35.534s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m37.911s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

11:30 Can’t read anything into the times yet but it certainly looks like Alonso isn’t having much trouble adjusting to F1 life following his road accident and jaw surgery that had risked compromising the start to his comeback season.

Alonso has now done what looked like a proper push lap on C2s, and it put him top of the pile, ahead of a C3 time from Carlos Sainz and a C4 time from Nikita Mazepin – the first driver today to run the red-walled tyre.

All 10 drivers now have times on the board. Daniel Ricciardo has stuck a flo-viz’d McLaren into fifth place on the unmarked C3s, but Antonio Giovinazzi and Sebastian Vettel remain well down the order.

Vettel has been limited to six laps so far, and in what appears to have been his sole timed lap he locked up the right front at Turn 4 and ran pretty wide.

1 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.769s
2 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
3 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s
4 Latifi (Williams) 1m33.498ss
5 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m33.530s
6 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m34.559s
7 Perez (Red Bull) 1m35.534s
8 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m37.067s
9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m38.586s
10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

11:00 Carlos Sainz has jumped out to the front with a lap on the C3 tyre, a 1m33.072s. He leads Nikita Mazepin (same tyre) and Fernando Alonso (a step harder).

Track conditions look fairly nice, a far cry from yesterday’s Blade Runner 2049 nightmare – although the cars still kick up a whole bunch of dust every time they dip as much as a wheel into the run-off.

Still no laptimes from McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel. Ricciardo is doing some regular install running, but Giovinazzi and Vettel have been consigned to the pits for the past half-hour.

1 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s
2 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.713s
3 Alonso (Alpine) 1m34.253s
4 Latifi (Williams) 1m34.608s
5 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m35.032s
6 Perez (Red Bull) 1m35.534s
7 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m37.067s

10:30 It’s been a busy first half-hour with every car logging several laps.

Haas driver Nikita Mazepin currently leads the way from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, both having set their best times on the C3 tyre – with Mazepin’s the fastest effort Haas has recorded in the pre-season so far.

Fernando Alonso did an initial aero sensor run for Alpine but then followed that up with a more conventional run, and is within half a second of Mazepin’s benchmark despite being on C2s.

1 Mazepin (Haas) 1m34.517s
2 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m34.557s
3 Latifi (Williams) 1m34.792s
4 Alonso (Alpine) 1m34.996s
5 Perez (Red Bull) 1m36.113s
6 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m37.067s
7 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m38.857s

10:00 The first cars – the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams of Nicholas Latifi – have immediately left the pits for the start of the second day of testing, which will again be made up of two four-hour sessions split by an hour-long lunch break.

Six teams will split running between their two race drivers today, while the other four will have just one driver in the car for the whole day. That latter group includes Alpine, which gives Fernando Alonso his first run-out in the A521.

Here’s today’s full driver roster:

Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton/Valtteri Bottas
Red Bull – Sergio Perez
McLaren – Daniel Ricciardo/Lando Norris
Aston Martin – Sebastian Vettel/Lance Stroll
Alpine – Fernando Alonso
Ferrari – Carlos Sainz Jr/Charles Leclerc
AlphaTauri – Yuki Tsunoda/Pierre Gasly
Alfa Romeo – Antonio Giovinazzi
Haas – Nikita Mazepin/Mick Schumacher
Williams – Nicholas Latifi

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