F1 winter testing: Bahrain I day 2

Pre-season testing lap times aren’t always a reliable guide as to who is fast, yet McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen can do no more than his best and overnight in Bahrain his best (1:34.910) was 1.5 seconds better than anyone else.

“The team is doing a great job to help me,” Magnussen said afterwards. “They’re giving me really good guidance and making me feel confident.

“There’s a lot of discussion about lap times, and it feels good to get some good times recorded, but winter testing is just that—testing. It isn’t about times.”

The young Dane only managed 46 laps in the MP4-29, the third fewest of the 11 drivers who took to the track. Second fastest was Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg (1:36.445) with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (1:36.516) close behind.

The fourth quickest time was posted by Nico Rosberg (1:36.965). Despite racking up a healthy total of 85 laps the Mercedes W05 stopped twice on the Sakhir circuit with technical glitches and necessitated red flags. Valtteri Bottas (1:37.328) was the busiest man of the day with 116 laps under his belt in the Williams.

Kamui Kobayashi (1:39.855) was sixth fastest and enjoyed a good day in the Caterham. Also able to be positive, for the first time this pre-season, was Sebastian Vettel (1:40.340) who won’t care that he only went seventh quickest on the day and will be happy to have managed 59 laps. In the five previous days of winter testing Red Bull had only managed a cumulative total of 35 laps.

Daniel Ricciardo will be at the wheel of the RB10 for the next two days in Bahrain and the team is cautiously optimistic it can continue to without further issues.

Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso also had a good day with Jean-Eric Vergne (1:40.609) completing 58 laps. Esteban Gutierrez (1:40.717) was ninth quickest in the Ferrari-powered Sauber.

Bringing up the rear were Romain Grosjean (1:41.670) in the Lotus and Marussia’s Max Chilton (1:42.511) who could only manage 18 and 17 laps respectively.

Focus is beginning to move from the woes of reigning world champion constructor Red Bull and onto Lotus. Speaking after testing Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane, didn’t shy away from his team’s issues.

“Obviously we fell way short of what we want to achieve here which is a strong tally of laps at a representative pace,” he said. “The car itself has looked solid at the pace we’ve run so far, but you only learn so much from lapping at our current level.”

Unofficial test times from Bahrain I (Day 2):

1. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren – 1:34.910 (46 laps)
2. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India – 1:36.445 (59 laps)
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari – 1:36.516 (97 laps)
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes – 1:36.965 (85 laps)
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams – 1:37.328 (116 laps)
6. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham – 1:39.855 (66 laps)
7. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull – 1:40.340 (59 laps)
8. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso – 1:40.609 (58 laps)
9. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber – 1:40.717 (55 laps)
10. Romain Grosjean, Lotus – 1:41.670 (18 laps)
11. Max Chilton, Marussia – 1:42.511 (17 laps)
[Source: Formula1.com]