Sainz leads Sargeant and Alonso on second morning of Bahrain pre-season test

Carlos Sainz set the pace for Ferrari as pre-season testing resumed at the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday morning, while Williams rookie Logan Sargeant and new Aston Martin signing Fernando Alonso also featured at the sharp end of the timesheets.

Amid the desert heat, Sainz got down to a time of 1m 32.486s – almost four-tenths quicker than Max Verstappen’s opening day benchmark – while working his way through another race distance in the SF-23.

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Sargeant slotted into second position, 0.063s away from Sainz, as the American youngster moved towards performance-based runs in what will be his final day aboard the FW45 before next week’s season opener.

Meanwhile, third-placed Alonso continued to show promise in the Aston Martin, which has run reliably since an early stoppage for reserve driver Felipe Drugovich on the first morning.

Alfa Romeo wound up fourth overall with Zhou Guanyu, who is one of three drivers – alongside the aforementioned Alonso and Sargeant – to be completing a full stint at the wheel on Friday.

Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon were fifth and sixth respectively in their Haas and Alpine machines, with Sergio Perez seventh as he got his first taste of the Red Bull RB19 after Verstappen’s Thursday stint.

Lewis Hamilton took eighth for Mercedes, having lost some track time after a piece of debris flew off his car – before it was run over by Alonso – and saw the seven-time world champion head back to the pits for repairs involving some tape.

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The morning order was rounded out by McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who racked up plenty of laps but refrained from posting any headline times, as drivers and teams continued to work through varying programmes.

A host of driver changes will take place over the lunch break, with the afternoon runners set to benefit from laps in both intense heat and the cooler, more representative twilight conditions – given that qualifying and the race at the Sakhir venue will take place within this window.

Stay tuned to F1 pre-season testing via our dedicated live blog.