Carlos Sainz set the pace on the second day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit as the Spaniard surpassed his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc's morning benchmark as the sun set in the desert.
Sainz set a time of 1m29.921s on the C4 Pirelli tires – the second softest in the range – as some teams began to shift their attention from data collection and long runs on harder compounds to implementing their new packages.
READ MORE: Leclerc sets the pace as the second morning of pre-season testing ends early
It was a productive afternoon for Ferrari. Sainz completed 84 laps – in addition to the 54 laps Leclerc managed this morning – when the session ended due to a track inspection triggered by Leclerc driving over a drain cover and scattering debris on the approach to the 11th lap.
To make up for lost time, Leclerc returned to the track in the afternoon to increase his lap count – by running a spare floor – before handing the car over to Sainz, who finished the day 0.758 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
Red Bull had planned to install Verstappen to replace Perez in the afternoon – with the Mexican given a full day on Friday – but after the disruption the reigning world champions opted to keep Perez in the car to maximize time on track .
Aside from a small loss of time due to brake failure and a possible performance issue, Perez easily managed a century of laps to provide Red Bull with plenty more data overnight.
WATCH: What we learned from the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain
Lewis Hamilton got his first real taste of the 2024 machine when he got behind the wheel of the Mercedes. The seven-time world champion completed a full day of racing and over 100 laps on his way to the third fastest time.
Lando Norris finished fourth for McLaren – the Brit lost some time in the afternoon as the team investigated a minor fuel system issue – taking over from teammate Oscar Piastri.
Sergio Perez was second fastest in the second training session of the day
Daniel Ricciardo continued RB's encouraging start to pre-season testing with the fifth best time (he was P4 on day one), the Australian a fraction behind Norris – 1.440 seconds off the pace.
Leclerc's best time set earlier in the day was enough to keep him sixth, ahead of Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas, with Oscar Piastri rounding out the top 10.
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Logan Sargeant had another troubled day, the American having a few issues on track including a semi-spin exiting Turn 10 – while his Williams team also had a few mechanical issues to sort out.
However, Sargeant completed a total of 117 laps at the end of his session, while his teammate Alex Albon completed the team's run with a full day in the car on Friday.