#BahrainTestDay2 as it happened: @ValtteriBottas tops the time-sheets. #F1

Valtteri Bottas put his Mercedes on top of the time-sheets on day two of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, beginning the Silver Arrow’s road to recovery after a difficult first day, meanwhile team-mate Lewis Hamilton brought out a red flag after suffering a spin in the morning.

Bottas posted a 1:30.289 on the red side-walled softest C5 compound, with just 20 minutes remaining in the session when the circuit was at it’s optimal. The Brackley-based squad, however, still have some issues to sort especially it’s gearbox, which saw them miss most of the morning’s running on Friday.

It at first did not get much better for the world champions as Hamilton ended the day 15^th quickest on his morning duties, spinning out at turn 13 and bringing out the red flag.

After qualifying simulations began with an hour left on the clock under the lights, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly briefly held P1, and finished 0.124 seconds behind Bottas on the same tyres. The Frenchman shared the Honda-powered AT02 with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished in 11^th place after running in the morning.

McLaren’s Lando Norris also held top spot for a period of time but eventually wound up fourth on C4 soft compounds. His new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo lead the morning’s running and finished ninth on the time-sheets using the mediums.

Day two saw two red flags, the first by the aforementioned spin by Hamilton, and the second from eighth-placed Red Bull of Sergio Perez after the engine cover blew off his RB16B spectacularly and he pulled out from behind Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi down the main straight. Perez used the harder rubber to set his effort.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll finished the day in third with a very late flyer, but his new team-mate Sebastian Vettel was the slowest of all, with only 10 laps completed after encountering a gearbox issue in the morning, which was fixed just in time for Stroll’s run.

Alfa Romeo Racing allocated a full day of running for Antonio Giovinazzi after Kimi Raikkonen drove the first day, and the Italian clocked up 124 laps of mileage and rounded out the top five, setting a 1:30.760 on the C5 red-branded soft tyres.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was unable to beat the Alfa Romeo with his hot lap effort later on and wound up in sixth place on the same rubber as Giovinazzi having taken over from team-mate Carlos Sainz (who finished 13^th overall) in the afternoon session. Sainz suffered a dramatic spin in the morning but ran 56 laps, whilst Leclerc completed 73 in total.

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso made his first appearance since recovering from a broken jaw sustained in a cycling accident last month, and the two-time World Champion reached 127 laps over the day with Esteban Ocon watching on from the pits. The Spaniard switched places with McLaren’s Ricciardo in the morning running but it was the Australian who came out on top by a tenth in that session. Alonso ended the day in 10^th place on the time-sheets.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi achieved a huge 132 laps, but the Canadian also suffered a spin in the evening as he attempted to make an overtake on Leclerc’s slow-moving SF21 into the first corner. The Canadian finished seventh and in-front of Red Bull Racing’s eighth-placed Perez using soft tyres, with George Russell set to pilot the Mercedes-powered FW43B today.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team had Nikita Mazepin driving on the second day in the morning as the Russian finished 14^th place overall, with team-mate Mick Schumacher running in the evening taking 12^th place.

The final day of testing begins in just under an hour with Russell running the full day for Williams whilst Mercedes will push to make up ground for time lost on Friday and Saturday mornings, as they prepare to defend their titles in 2021.

You can catch up on day two highlights of pre-season testing at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pQpFDdJi5Q

Missed out on day one? Read all about it here at the link: #BahrainTestDay1: @RedBullRacing’s @Max33Verstappen quickest. #F1