Carlos Sainz set the pace for Williams ahead of Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, as rain impacted the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Hamilton had been fastest in the morning session — when the rain had the biggest effect — but Sainz was one of just two drivers to complete the full day of running, along with Red Bull’s Liam Lawson. Soon after the lunch break, Sainz posted a 1m29.348s that moved him 0.031s clear of Hamilton, with both having used the C3 compound tire for their quickest laps.
The lap time was symbolic given the fact it saw Sainz end up ahead of the driver who replaced him at Ferrari, but of greater significance was the comparison to a year ago, with Sainz going 1.6 seconds faster than Williams managed in pre-season in 2024. For reference, Ferrari’s improvement against its headline time from last winter is 0.6s so far.
After strong lap times on the C2 tire before lunch, there was one blemish on Sainz’s 127-lap day as he suffered a spin at Turn 1 in the afternoon session, but he was one of multiple drivers to have a moment, with the light rain that persisted for most of the day lowering the grip level. Leclerc was third quickest, just 0.083s off Sainz’s time, and also spun on cold tires when traveling slowly through the final corner.
While the afternoon’s weather was far from ideal, it did at least allow running to take place largely uninterrupted, unlike in the morning session. After overnight rain, light drizzle started to intensify to the point that drivers returned to their garages around an hour into the day, and for a spell the only action came from Esteban Ocon lapping on intermediate tires.
The sight was rare because eight of the 10 teams had not selected any wet weather tires at all for pre-season testing in Bahrain, with an expectation of hot and dry weather in the Middle East. The tire selections are made back in December prior to shipping, and while Pirelli has provided an emergency set of intermediate and wet tires to teams in the past, that was only possible when the first race was held in Bahrain.
This season, the opening race is in Australia so the teams were warned they had to select the own wet tires if they wanted some, and only Haas — with one set of intermediates and one set of full wets — and Aston Martin (with three sets of intermediates) did so.
The conditions limited Hamilton to just 45 laps and he admitted afterwards that he would have liked more, but in pushing the Ferrari’s limits more than on the opening day he was encouraged by the feedback he received from the car. On the run Hamilton set his fastest time, he had to abort his first attempt after running out of road at Turn 11, but had plenty of fuel to be able to take a cooldown lap and go again, posting a 1m29.379s.
Under 0.1s covered the top three, and then it was the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli who ended the day fourth and fifth respectively. Over 0.4s off Sainz, the two were separated by just 0.006s as Antonelli amassed 87 laps after lunch, although team principal Toto Wolff suggested the team isn’t seeing a repeat of its advantage in cold conditions so far this week.
Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin as the team’s mileage remained relatively low, ahead of Lawson after a disjointed day for Red Bull. The team suffered from a loss of engine water pressure and had a long spell in the garage towards the end of the morning, while further garage visits later in the day kept Lawson below the 100-lap mark.
For comparison, Isack Hadjar’s total of 94 laps were three more than Lawson managed, despite the Racing Bulls rookie only driving in the afternoon session. Hadjar was also the only driver to set his best lap on the C4 compound tire, with the remainder of the field using the C3.
Jack Doohan was another rookie who jumped in the car after lunch and continued some solid work for Alpine, although he had a few off-track moments, including a high-speed slide after running wide at the final corner.
McLaren did not feature at the top of the times but the car was again looking well balanced in the cold and damp conditions. There was an unusual moment prior to the break in running when Oscar Piastri understeered wide into Nico Hulkenberg as the Stake Sauber driver tried to let him through at Turn 8, but no significant damage was done as the Australian ended up in 13th place by the end of running.
Teammate Lando Norris finished one place behind Piastri, although that belied the car’s pace. Norris looked set to leap up the timing screens in the final 15 minutes of the day but aborted his lap — that had included the fastest middle sector of all — to complete pit stop practice for McLaren.
