Trident’s Arjun Maini ended the second and penultimate day of Formula 2 pre-season testing in Bahrain quickest with a time of 1:42.779.
Maini posted his time during the morning session as no driver improved in the afternoon as the grid focussed on race simulations and long runs over outright speed.
ART's Jack Aitken was second quickest, 0.224s down with Theodore Racing's Nyck de Vries third, 0.077s further adrift.
The competitors were once again greeted with perfect conditions when the track opened, with the Trident duo first out followed by Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz, who finished up fifth quickest behind Luca Ghiotto, who set the early pace.
Artem Markelov brought out the first of two red flags for a spin at Turn 8. Alexander Albon caused the second having stopped at the entry to the pitlane.
With race simulations the topic after lunch the times didn't improve, meaning Maini held on to the top spot as team-mate santino Ferrucci topped the afternoon's running ahead of MP Motorsport's Ralph Boschung.
Friday sees the final day of pre-season testing ahead of the opening race in Bahrain in a fortnight.
![Isack Hadjar [pictured] has deferred to Max Verstappen for Day 2 of the F1 pre-season test. Image: Red Bull Content Pool](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Isack-Hadjar-Red-Bull-test-2026-350x250.webp)
![Isack Hadjar [pictured] has deferred to Max Verstappen for Day 2 of the F1 pre-season test. Image: Red Bull Content Pool](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Isack-Hadjar-Red-Bull-test-2026-120x86.webp)
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