The second day of preseason tests for Formula 1 in Bahrain witnessed great emotions, featuring an interesting duel between Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz, who recently changed teams. During the morning session, Hamilton, now at Ferrari, led the timesheets, showing good performance in his new car. However, in the afternoon, Sainz, a Williams driver, surprised by beating Hamilton's time by just 0.031 seconds.
Sainz expressed satisfaction with his performance and commented: "It has been a very positive day. We were able to complete many laps and learned a lot about the car." On his part, Hamilton expressed his enthusiasm for enjoying driving his new car and mentioned: "I’m really enjoying the car," highlighting the importance of reliability as the first topic to address.
Hamilton's teammate, Charles Leclerc, also stood out by setting the third-best time of the day, just 0.083 seconds behind Sainz. British driver George Russell from Mercedes placed fourth, 0.43 seconds off the best time, demonstrating solid performance on the track.
Ferrari's team principal, Fred Vasseur, expressed happiness with the work done by the team during the tests, emphasizing the importance of adapting to the changing weather conditions in Bahrain, which included unusual cold temperatures and light rain. Sainz acknowledged the challenge posed by the weather but felt satisfied with the results obtained despite the adverse conditions.
The third and final day of testing will take place on Friday, ahead of the official start of the season with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16. With each day of testing, teams and drivers are adjusting their strategies and syncing up to tackle the challenges of the competition.
