Sainz lowers F1 testing pace as Hamilton loses bodywork

The Ferrari driver clocked a 1m32.486s - a new benchmark time of testing - on the second morning of running at Sakhir to edge Williams’ F1 rookie Logan Sargeant to the quickest time. 

Sargeant bolted on a set of Pirelli’s softest tyre to post a succession of fast laps during the final hour of Friday’s opening session, but the American fell 0.063s short of Sainz’s effort from earlier in the morning. 

• F1 2023 Bahrain pre-season testing - Day 2 Lap Times

After catching the eye on the first day, Fernando Alonso continued to impress as he put his Aston Martin third on the morning timesheets, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu. 

Kevin Magnussen was fifth-fastest for Haas, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez, who got his first proper chance to sample the RB19 after reigning world champion Max Verstappen single-handedly completed Red Bull’s programme on Thursday. 

It was not the smoothest of sessions for Hamilton, whose Mercedes shed a piece of bodywork that forced him back into the garage for some minor repairs. 

Lewis Hamilton appeared to lose a piece of his car as he made his way up the straight pic.twitter.com/gmzYnl99cH

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) February 24, 2023

The seven-time world champion was not completely happy with the balance of his W14 but was mainly focused on long running as he ended up eighth and 1.4s off the pace. 

Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda completed the rest of the order for McLaren and AlphaTauri respectively. 

Friday’s action will resume in the afternoon, with all teams bar Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo and Williams swapping drivers during the lunch break.