Perez stays on top in Bahrain

Renault power shows signs of slow improvement

Sergio Perez and Force India have remained at the top of the time sheets at the close of the second days’ test in Bahrain.

Perez set a lap time of 1:35.570 in this morning’s session; just 0.280seconds back on his fastest lap yesterday but still ahead of second placed Fernando Alonso, albeit by just 0.064 seconds. After a slow start to the day, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished in third place on the time sheets within a second of the pace set by Perez as rival teams are starting to show signs of the true pace their cars are capable of.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso claimed the highest mileage for Ferrari today. The World Champion completed 122 laps in Bahrain today, 14 laps more than fastest driver Sergio Perez.

The morning session saw two red flags caused by Mercedes powered caused. First Lewis Hamilton stopped on track after putting in a hour of driving in the Mercedes followed by a stop by Jenson Button with an undisclosed problem. Mercedes were quick to recover their car, and by the lunch break Lewis Hamilton had completed 61 laps of mileage – more than any other driver throughout the morning.

The success was short lived for Mercedes though. In what has turned out to be a rare turn of events, Mercedes brought Hamilton’s day to an early end later in the afternoon session as a gearbox problem needed rectifying in time for tomorrow’s test. Regardless, Hamilton still ended the day with 89 laps on the tally.

Jenson Button’s problem appeared to be more serious as the car spent the remainder of the morning in the team garage as the team look to iron out the issues of their final test upgrades.

Red Bull had an enormous haul of new parts delivered to the paddock overnight in attempt to rectify the issues it is having with overheating. Only completing 4 laps in the first three hours, Ricciardo would end the morning session with 15 laps completed.

Lotus would also have a slow start to the day as issues are trying to be worked out, whilst Toro Rosso and Caterham completed a good number of laps combined. Toro Rosso and Caterham though still average between four and seven seconds off the pace of the front runners.

Marussia and Jules Bianchi started the day well with 33 laps completed before lunch and fourth fastest time – just 2.628 seconds off the pace of Perez. By the end of the day, Bianchi was sixth fastest amongst the eleven runners, just two and a half seconds back from the front runners.

Bianchi also ended the day ahead of the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Jean-Eric Vergne and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez. Gutierrez, although only ninth for the days’ test, will be happy with 106 laps of mileage completed; the third most of all drivers today as the Sauber continues to prove reliable.

Williams also completed another successful day, this time with Felipe Massa behind the wheel. Massa went fourth fastest on the day with 103 laps to his name. Williams have now completed a combined 231 laps over days’ 1 and 2 of the final test in Bahrain.

Maldonado finished within the top ten today, though a fire on the E22 brought a premature end to the day for Lotus whose struggles in testing continue. It wasn’t the only fire of the day either – later in the afternoon Caterham’s Magnus Ericcson caused a red flag when he stopped on track. A ‘technical issue’ caused a fire in the car and brought the team’s day to an end. Ericcson completed 55 laps today but is still placed dead last on the time sheets, almost seven seconds off the pace of Perez.

Day 3 of the Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain commences tomorrow, March 1st 2014.