Mercedes F1 finished the second and final day of testing at the top of the leaderboard with Valtteri Bottas completing a total of 143 laps throughout the day, despite causing a red flag by stopping out on the Bahrain International Circuit at lunchtime.
Second quickest was the Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel, who was three tenths shy of Bottas' time after just 64 laps while the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz was third overall, another three tenths slower than the Ferrari.
What was pleasing for McLaren fans however was that Stoffel Vandoorne finished fourth quickest and managed a total of 81 lapsโฆ
โEverything has worked perfectly today in terms of reliability, and we were even able to push a little bit in terms of settings. We've managed a โproper' test today, and really made the most of every opportunity out on track. Everything we've planned, we've tested, and we've done back-to-back runs, so I'm really happy with the work we've completed today,โ said McLaren's Eric Boullier.
โIt's complicated to understand the issues we've had over the past few days, since today we've managed to run without any problems, but Honda are working hard to understand where the weaknesses lie. We've been able to run with a more aggressive set-up today, gathered a lot of information and tested a lot of solutions, so in terms of both data and results it's, been a very positive day of testing.โ
โIt's certainly been a trying couple of weeks for everyone at McLaren-Honda, and I can't thank the team enough for the long hours, hard work and incredible effort they've put in after a long period away from home. Oliver and Stoffel, too, have both done a sterling job, and, for Stoffel in particular, the mileage we've been able to cover today after difficult back-to-back race weekends for him has been priceless."
"Being able to do a good amount of running on the final day has come at the right time. Now, we'll head back to the factory with even more motivation to keep pushing forward. It's a quick turnaround to crunch the numbers and prepare ourselves for Sochi, which for sure will be another tough weekend for us, but, as always, we're ready for the challenge.โ
Times from day two in Bahrain:
- Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m31.280s 143 laps
- Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m31.574s 64 laps
- Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1m31.884s 68 laps
- Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 1m32.108s 81 laps
- Kevin Magnussen Haas 1m32.120s 88 laps
- Esteban Ocon Force India 1m32.142s 60 laps
- Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1m32.213s 61 laps
- Gary Paffett Williams 1m32.253s 126 laps
- Sergey Sirotkin Renault 1m32.287s 90 laps
- Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1m32.568s 65 laps
- Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1m34.462s 91 laps
- Sergio Perez Force India 1m35.015s 70 laps
