AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly clocked the fastest time on the opening day of Formula 1’s second pre-season test in Bahrain.
Gasly set a time of 1:33.902s on the C5 tyres during the twilight evening session to finish four-tenths clear of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc’s time from the morning session was quick enough to ensure he wound up third overall.
Both Ferrari drivers clocked their best laps on the C3 tyre.
The afternoon session was disrupted by two stoppages.
The first was caused when an aero rake detached from Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and scattered debris on the track.
The second came in the closing stages, causing the day’s running to come to an early end, when Sergio Perez had a low-key spin through Turn 8.
On a cooldown lap, amid a trial Virtual Safety Car period, Perez lost the rear of the RB18 exiting Turn 8 and crept into the gravel trap, beaching the car.
Perez nonetheless amassed the most mileage on Thursday’s running as he racked up 138 laps.
Haas made up for lost time after its delayed start to the day, with test driver Pietro Fittipaldi completing 47 laps in the VF-22.
That left Haas only three laps shy of McLaren’s total for the day, with Lando Norris having a low-key outing, racking up just 50 laps.
Alpine also had a relatively subdued afternoon session as Fernando Alonso took over from Esteban Ocon but added only 24 laps to the team’s tally.
Running is due to resume at 10:00 local time on Friday.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P. Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:33.902 | 103 | |
| 2 | C. Sainz | Ferrari | 1:34.359 | 0.457 | 52 |
| 3 | C. Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:34.531 | 0.629 | 64 |
| 4 | L. Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:34.736 | 0.834 | 50 |
| 5 | A. Albon | Williams | 1:35.070 | 1.168 | 104 |
| 6 | L. Norris | McLaren | 1:35.356 | 1.454 | 50 |
| 7 | V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:35.495 | 1.593 | 66 |
| 8 | S. Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:35.706 | 1.804 | 39 |
| 9 | G. Russell | Mercedes | 1:35.941 | 2.039 | 60 |
| 10 | S. Perez | Red Bull | 1:35.977 | 2.075 | 138 |
| 11 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:36.365 | 2.463 | 62 |
| 12 | F. Alonso | Alpine | 1:36.745 | 2.843 | 24 |
| 13 | E. Ocon | Alpine | 1:36.768 | 2.866 | 42 |
| 14 | G. Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1:36.164 | 3.262 | 54 |
| 15 | P. Fittipaldi | Haas | 1:37.422 | 3.520 | 47 |
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