Valtteri Bottas put Mercedes at the top of the timesheets as teams brought out the soft tyres on Day 2 of testing.
After the troubles of Friday, the Finn managed 58 laps and used the perfect evening conditions to put on Pirelli’s fastest compound, the C5, and set a 1m30:289s.
That put a nice final touch on what was a better day for the reigning champions after teammate Lewis Hamilton also managed 58 laps despite a trip to the gravel in the morning.
Interestingly, however, that total of 116 tours of the Sakhir circuit was still the third-lowest of all the teams, with only Aston Martin and McLaren – both of whom use Mercedes power – behind them.
Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll were second and third, less than two tenths slower on the same C5 tyre.
AlphaTauri also enjoyed the second-highest lap count as Gasly and teammate Yuki Tsunoda completed a combined 134 laps, as Honda’s impressive reliability continued.
As for Stroll, his 71 laps were much-needed at Aston Martin after another Mercedes gearbox issue had limited Sebastian Vettel to just 10 laps in the morning.
Tyre corrected, Lando Norris was arguably the fastest man on Saturday, finishing three-tenths behind Bottas on the slower C4 rubber.
This as McLaren do have many in F1 taking note of how they’ve adapted to the new floor and diffuser regulations for 2021.
Ferrari’s new engine appears to be bringing a much-need boost, with Antonio Giovinazzi fifth for Alfa Romeo and Charles Leclerc sixth in the SF21.
Nicholas Latifi was seventh for Williams, completing the most laps for a single driver at 132.
One of those laps saw a curious incident with Sergio Perez when the engine cover was blown off his Red Bull as he pulled out of the slipstream on the main straight.
Checo’s bodywork really said: Send it ?#F1 #F1Testing @redbullracing @SChecoPerez pic.twitter.com/suv2RymgYI
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2021
Still, the Mexican enjoyed a productive day in the RB16B with 117 laps and the eighth-best time as Red Bull focused on the hardest two tyres.
The cooler evening temperatures once again saw Daniel Ricciardo’s morning best finish two seconds off the pace by the end of the day. as the Australian dropped to ninth.
Fernando Alonso didn’t improve on his AM time either, ending the day in 10th for Alpine with an impressive 128 laps.
The most distance though was covered by Haas, as Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin completed a remarkable 164 laps or just shy of three full Bahrain Grand Prix’s!
In an unusual sight, Hamilton and Vettel, champions in 10 of the past 11 years, sat bottom of the standings.
Full results from Day 2 in Bahrain can be seen below:
