Sunday Debrief: Ferrari dominate day 2 of testing

Day 2 of testing concluded with Carlos Sainz setting the fastest time of testing thus far, with a time of 1:29.921. His teammate, Charles Leclerc, led the first session of the day with a time of 1:31.750

 

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Session 1:

 

Session, one started with an additional 10 minutes added to the clock with the intentions of a FIA safety system test at the end of the session. Leclerc ending the session with the benchmark time of 1:31.750.

 

Red Bull had a delayed start with Perez returning to the pits at the start of the session with issues with the break disks overheating and temporarily catching fire. The Red Bull mechanics were able to quickly sort the issue and get Perez back out for the remainder of the session.

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The red flag came out after Leclerc ran over a drain cover on the approach to Turn 11, leaving debris on track. Lewis Hamilton crossed the debris, bringing him back to the garage, as the team did a detail check of the car following the incident. With a 40-minute delay, the decision was made to end the morning session early and extend the afternoon session by an additional hour. By the end of the session, the top 5 consisted of Leclerc, Piastri, Sargeant, Perez and Alonso and Hamilton finishing in P6 after his first run in the W15.

 

Session 2:

 

Ferrari continued to be the team to top the times in session 2, with Carlos Sainz setting the new top time early in the session, replacing his teammate with a time of 1:29.921.

 

Perez had another case of bad luck, returning to the pits once again after his steering wheel went blank, possibly losing power in his RB20. Perez slowly rolled around the final corners before returning back to the pits. The team once again working quickly to get the Mexican driver back out to complete the session.

 

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After a disappointing day yesterday for Williams where they were able to pick up 61 laps between both drivers compared to Verstappen’s 142, Sargeant was able to rack up an impressive 117 laps for the team, with a fairly smooth day of testing. Sargeant took on both sessions for day 2, Albon expected to take the wheel for the final day of testing. Issues for Williams came later in the session, with Sargeant returning to the pits with issues to his wheel hum and a loose part in the final hour. Sargeant finished day 2 in the same position as day 1 in P11.

 

The FIA rescheduled their system testing to the end of session 2, first with the VSC followed by the red flag. The green lights coming back on with a final 10 minutes for day 2. 5 cars returning to the pits and battling it out into the final corner, Hamilton remained ahead of the pack after leading them out of the pit lane, Bottas pulling a move on Norris to get ahead doing into Turn 3.

 

With the chequered flag ready, it was Sainz to top the times in day 2, followed by Perez after a troubling day and Hamilton to round off the top 3.