The shift in track conditions from day to dusk in Bahrain had some impact on the impressions the cars left on day two of Formula 1 pre-season testing. But the trends of the leading teams were only reinforced.
The Red Bull continues to look consistently excellent, although Sergio Perez is clearly not as comfortable as Max Verstappen in his first half-day of running. Clean laps are punctuated by several lock-ups into the tricky Turn 10 left-hander, which indicates Checo is still finding the limit.
Equally unsurprising, given Verstappen had Thursday all to himself, is RB19 immediately looks better in the world champion’s hands.
There’s a headline reinforcement of this view in the seemingly effortless laptimes when Verstappen jumps in the car for the second half of the day, but it is evident in the little things.
Though his afternoon’s workload is reduced by what Red Bull called a “small teething issue”, when the car emerges late on it is on rails through Turns 1 and 2, and at Turn 10 – our vantage points when evening rolls around.
The Red Bull is not so superior that it should be considered immune to the swings that different fuel loads and engine modes might bring, as the baseline traits of the Ferrari and Mercedes were also steady.
Each car has its merits although at this stage Ferrari looks closer than Mercedes.
At both the height of the midday sun and in the cooler conditions into the evening, the Ferrari looks nimble. It is as settled into Turn 10 as the Red Bull and its change of direction between Turns 1 and 2 is sharp.
This still looks like a car that is close enough to the Red Bull for run plans to be the decisive factor. At the very least, there is an absence of evidence to suggest the Ferrari has a clear deficit.
As for the Mercedes, the trend of a sharp front end at the expense of a little rear instability was visible again. A clobbering of the inside kerb at Turn 10 exaggerates the issue on one lap but there are other instances of Lewis Hamilton needing to manage a small slide on corner exit.
At lunchtime, George Russell hints this is a consequence of the balance shift Mercedes has achieved with the W14 and says it is a good thing.
Unfortunately, a hydraulics issue prevents us from scrutinising the car in his hands later in the day.
It’s in the midfield where the biggest shifts in impression can be found. Fernando Alonso’s full day in the Aston Martin makes a very compelling case to consider the AMR23 the pick of the midfield.
Though it may be foolish to get sucked in by such snapshots, each time it appears on track – whatever compound, whatever trackside vantage point, whatever kind of run Alonso appears to be doing – it just looks very compliant.
Its expected rivals at the head of the midfield, of which Alpine appears in best shape, aren’t quite as convincing.
Our first real view of the A523 (mainly things to poorly timed trackside trips!) comes with a decent Esteban Ocon push lap in the afternoon and there’s a longer run from Pierre Gasly in the evening that looks visibly quicker than the McLaren he gradually pulls clear of.
There are no obvious vices with the Alpine, apart from one Turn 1 lock-up from Gasly. It lacks the obvious impressiveness of the Aston Martin but this is something that fuel loads could quickly counter.
McLaren’s car improves drastically from day to night. Having spent a day and a half looking unpredictable and difficult it becomes much more controlled.
This appears to be down to some weaknesses being masked by more favourable conditions that Oscar Piastri gets to enjoy in the evening, although Lando Norris doing his running in the first half of the day on used tyres will also have played into it.
Whereas before the McLaren looked unwieldy, it now just looks a little slower than it needs to be.
There’s a horrible-to-judge gaggle behind the apparently Aston Martin/Alpine midfield duopoly and McLaren looks like its aim should be to sneak in front of that pack.
