Formula 1 arrived at the second week of pre-season tests in Bahrain with an eye on the appointment that will open the course next weekend on the same stage. After a morning dominated by Charles Leclerc and the Ferrari F1-75, all the teams, including Haas, who missed the morning due to a delay in shipping their cargo, enjoyed a further four hours of filming in the afternoon session.
With their eyes still on the radical sidepod design of the Mercedes W13, the ten single-seaters ventured out onto the Shakir asphalt, where we could see the two Spanish drivers, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, in their respective single-seaters.
The afternoon started off fairly calmly, with some drivers getting back into the cars after testing in Barcelona to find out if the engineers had resolved the porpoising issues. However, that tranquility was soon disturbed by a red flag caused by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, which left an aerodynamic grid on the track on the straight before the finish line.
At that time, Alpine was working with Fernando Alonso, who was riding with the Pirelli C2 and who stopped the clock for the first time in a 1:41.449, still far from the best time of the leader, Charles Leclerc. The Asturian was improving little by little, starring, like others like Pérez, in some blocks at turn 10.
That happened several times in the morning session to Lewis Hamilton, who gave up his seat to George Russell in the afternoon. The Briton had to wait a long time to put the W13 on the asphalt, while Carlos Sainz took the controls of the Ferrari, turning at a similar pace to that of his compatriot, close to 1:40.
The man from Madrid picked up speed as Mercedes returned to the circuit, although they were unable to resolve the porpoising that Hamilton suffered at the end of the main straight during the morning. The Englishman was not comfortable with the car, even commenting on the radio that his mechanics should look at the clutch panel as it was too close to his knees.
Ferrari continued adding laps, in addition to rising in the standings, reaching sixth place in the best lap of the afternoon with a 1:36.687 from Sainz. In Red Bull, who decided to leave the entire day for Checo Pérez, they were the first to exceed a hundred laps , although the eyes were on the Alpine garage, which after completing 13 laps when the sun went down, ordered Alonso to return to the box.
Concern was growing for the French team, and they pulled the shutters down to start work on the right rear of the A522, which boded ill if they wanted to get back on track.
Meanwhile, the rest continued adding kilometers, like Pietro Fittipaldi, who tested the Haas VF-22 with the third livery of the year after Nikita Mazepin and Uralkali left the structure.
Pérez and Albon provided some excitement when they tried a series of slipstreams to study the behavior of their cars, closely following another, although it was Pierre Gasly with the AlphaTauri who placed fourth with a 1:35.919, beating the Mexican.
As the timer ticked down, the circuit lights began to come on to make way for the pitch-black night of Bahrain, and that’s when the session came to life.
Two hours from the end, Red Bull had accumulated 118 laps , much more than the following team, which with Alex Albon totaled 85 . Haas was the one with the least to his credit, since only 17 laps witnessed Fittipaldi’s score.
The braking passes were still the common denominator in most drivers, but especially in George Russell and the Mercedes W13, very nervous in the most twisty areas of Shakir. Ferrari, a little over an hour from the checkered flag, studied the aerodynamic flow with paraffin, and managed to break the 100 lap barrier .
Lando Norris, in a somewhat hidden McLaren, moved up to eighth with a 1m35.946s, but it was Stroll who stunned with a 1m35.219s to take third. Shortly after, Sainz responded to take this place with a time of 1:34.713 with the C3 compound.
Although these were good times, it was Pierre Gasly who beat Leclerc as the fastest of the day, going down to a 1m33.982s , setting the record in sectors 1 and 3.
With just under three quarters of an hour to go, Fernando Alonso returned to the tarmac, although he only took an installation lap before returning to the garage. At that moment it was when Shakir began to see more action, hurrying the day to the maximum, as happened in a ‘pique’ between Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and the Asturian’s own Alpine , who starred in an action worthy of a career opening the DRS on the main straight, passing and reviewing each other until the Spaniard gave his arm to twist at turn 4.
Lewis Hamilton, despite not having ridden in the afternoon, was attentive to everything that was happening with Toto Wolff in the Mercedes box, and from there he saw the time of Carlos Sainz who was four tenths off the best of the day, a 1:34.359 . with the C4 tire.
With just 10 minutes remaining in the day, the FIA repeated the virtual safety car test, which nullified the possibility of setting good times. However, under that yellow flag period, Pérez made a mistake and got stuck in the gravel, causing a red flag that would end the session for good.
Thus, Pierre Gasly led the afternoon with 103 laps completed and a best time of 1:33.902, followed by Sainz ‘s 52 and his 1:34.359. Ferrari closed the hypothetical podium of the first day of testing with 64 laps and a 1:34.531 from Leclerc , ahead of Stroll, Albon, Norris, Bottas, Vettel, Russell and Pérez , who closed the top 10 after his error at low speed.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was 11th, followed by Fernando Alonso and teammate Esteban Ocon , while Zhou and Fittipaldi closed the table.
Times, results and positions of the day of Thursday in the tests of F1 2022 in Bahrain:
| Pilot | Equipment | laps | Time (tyre) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
AlphaTauri | 64 | 1’33 “902  |
| two |  Carlos Sainz |
ferrari | 52 | 1’34″359  |
| 3 |  Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari | 53 | 1’34″531 |
| 4 |  Lance Stroll |
Aston Martin | 50 | 1’34″736 |
| 5 |  Alex Albon |
williams | 104 | 1’35″070 |
| 6 |
|
McLaren | 50 | 1’35″356  |
| 7 |
|
Alfa Romeo | 66 | 1’35″395 |
| 8 |  Sebastian Vettel |
Aston Martin | 39 | 1’35″706 |
| 9 |  George Russell |
Mercedes | 60 | 1’35″941 |
| 10 |
|
Red Bull | 138 | 1’35″977 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | 62 | 1’36″365 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso |
Alpine | 24 | 1’36″365 |
| 13 |  Esteban Ocon |
Alpine | 42 | 1’36″768 |
| 14 |  Guanyu Zhou |
Alfa Romeo | 54 | 1’37″164 |
| 15 |  Pietro Fittipaldi |
Haas | 47 | 1’38 “527 |
Valtteri Bottas
Sergio Perez
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