Lando Norris leads the second day of F1 testing in Bahrain
British driver Lando Norris, representing McLaren, stood out by setting the fastest time on the second day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain. He surpassed Max Verstappen, from Red Bull Racing, and George Russell, from Mercedes-AMG Petronas.
Fernando Alonso, driving for Aston Martin F1 Team, finished the morning session with the ninth-best time.
After a previous day with interruptions, Alonso completed 40 laps, a significant increase compared to the previous day. The team opted for a strategy focused on data collection and technical adjustments, prioritizing analysis over the search for fast times. The performance of the single-seater is still in development, far from the leaders.
Aston Martin’s plan is for Alonso to continue driving in the afternoon with more extensive simulations to evaluate the AMR26. For Friday’s session, Lance Stroll will take the wheel.
Norris set a time of 1:33.453 on soft tires, the best time so far in the tests. His session was briefly interrupted when his car stopped during a practice start due to a turbo problem. Verstappen was a tenth of a second behind, also on the same compound.
Lewis Hamilton, from Scuderia Ferrari, only completed five laps while the team was conducting configuration tests. The previous day, Charles Leclerc, his teammate, led the morning session.
A notable technical detail was an aerodynamic innovation on the Ferrari, a wing element that rotated to reduce drag and increase top speed.
