Carlos Sainz set the pace on the second day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, as the Spaniard improved on Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc's morning benchmark as the sun began to set over the desert.
Sainz clocked 1m 29.921s on the C4 Pirelli tyres, the second softest in the range, as some teams began to shift their attention from data collection and long runs with harder compounds to starting to push their new packages.
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It turned out to be a productive afternoon for Ferrari, with Sainz recording 84 laps, adding to the 54 that Leclerc managed this morning, when the session ended due to a track inspection, caused by Leclerc. running over a drain cover and scattering debris on the approach to turn 11.
To make up for lost time, Leclerc returned to the track in the afternoon to bolster his lap count (running a replacement flat) before handing the car over to Sainz, who finished the day 0.758 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
Red Bull had intended to recruit Verstappen to replace Pérez in the afternoon (the Mexican would have a full day on Friday), however, following the interruption, the current world champions opted to keep Pérez in the car to maximize track time.
Aside from a small loss of time, courtesy of a brake fire and a potential power issue, Perez comfortably cleared a century of laps to give Red Bull plenty more data to analyze overnight.
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Lewis Hamilton got his first taste of the 2024 machinery when he got behind the wheel of the Mercedes, the seven-time world champion racing a full day and surpassing 100 laps on his way to the third fastest time.
Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren (the Brit lost some time in the afternoon as the team investigated a small fuel system issue) having replaced teammate Oscar Piastri.
Daniel Ricciardo continued RB's encouraging start to pre-season testing with the fifth-fastest time (he was P4 on day one), the Australian a fraction behind Norris, 1.440 seconds off the pace.
Leclerc's best time set earlier in the day was enough to keep him sixth, ahead of Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas, with Oscar Piastri closing out the top 10.
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Logan Sargeant had another disrupted day, with the American having some on-track issues, including a half-spin exiting Turn 10, while his Williams team also had to fix a couple of mechanical issues.
However, Sargeant still logged 117 total laps to close out his session, and teammate Alex Albon completed the team's run with a full day in the car on Friday.