Lando Norris grabbed the headlines for the second consecutive day in Bahrain at pre-season testing, following a remarkable race simulation.
Williams' Carlos Sainz topped the day two timesheets at the Bahrain International Circuit, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
It was McLaren and Red Bull on the receiving end of the most attention, but for very different reasons. As mentioned, Norris produced a stunning long run, whilst Red Bull encountered a problem.
Liam Lawson completed both sessions for the Milton Keynes-based outfit on Thursday, but missed some of the morning due to a loss of engine water pressure.
By the end of the day, the rookie had completed 91 laps, making Red Bull the only team not to surpass 100 on the second day of running. Max Verstappen will drive in both sessions on Friday.
As for McLaren, the MCL39 does appear to possibly be the car to beat. Norris drove in the afternoon session and demonstrated staggeringly lap time consistency across his race run.
What was most impressive, was Norris' ability to improve his lap times despite being on aging tyres.
His final long run on the C2 tyre was particularly outstanding. He completed 18 laps in his final stint which were all very consistent.
Onboard cameras also showed how balanced the MCL39 already is, whilst Norris pulled out of multiple fast laps which would have put him top of the timesheets.
Just like last season, tyre degradation looks to be no concern for the British team.
View Norris' latest long run below. The text continues after that.
Norris C2 tyre long run
| Round | Lap time |
|---|---|
| 1. | 1:33.557 |
| 2. | 1:33.658 |
| 3. | 1:33.873 |
| 4. | 1:33.299 |
| 5. | 1:33.465 |
| 6. | 1:32.503 |
| 7. | 1:32.746 |
| 8. | 1:34.196 |
| 9. | 1:32.390 |
| 10. | 1:32.518 |
| 11. | 1:32.354 |
| 12. | 1:32.267 |
| 13. | 1:32.832 |
| 14. | 1:32.795 |
| 15. | 1:32.730 |
| 16. | 1:32.631 |
| 17. | 1:32.775 |
| 18. | 1:33.429 |
Red Bull
Lawson also completed a long run with a high fuel lead, making for an interesting comparison with Norris.
Like Norris, Lawson used the hard C2 compound, and actually looked reasonably strong. The New Zealander completed 20 laps in a row, with fairly consistent lap times.
Compared to Norris, Lawson was slower, although this could be due to several factors. Whilst Norris' long run can be looked at next to Lawson's, a true comparison is difficult to make.
Based on the first two days, McLaren and Red Bull appear to have a long run pace edge over Mercedes and Ferrari.
Several questions remain over Ferrari's true pace, with perhaps the Maranello-based team opting to hold back its genuine potential for Australia.
Red Bull's true pace will likely be answered on Friday when Verstappen completes his long run, given the Dutchman is presumably the team's benchmark.
View Lawson and Norris' long runs below!
LAW & NOR long runs
| Round | LAW | NOR |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1:35.389 | 1:35.010 |
| 2. | 1:34.700 | 1:34.228 |
| 3. | 1:35.116 | 1:34.497 |
| 4. | 1:34.747 | 1:34.331 |
| 5. | 1:34.976 | 1:34.656 |
| 6. | 1:34.881 | 1:34.412 |
| 7. | 1:34.888 | 1:34.285 |
| 8. | 1:34.790 | 1:34.114 |
| 9. | 1:35.004 | 1:34.115 |
| 10. | 1:34.900 | 1:34.071 |
| 11. | 1:34.826 | 1:34.642 |
| 12. | 1:35.013 | 1:34.342 |
| 13. | 1:36.903 | 1:34.612 |
| 14. | 1:35.698 | 1:34.385 |
| 15. | 1:35.379 | 1:34.335 |
| 16. | 1:34.783 | |
| 17. | 1:34.738 | |
| 18. | 1:35.238 | |
| 19. | 1:34.684 | |
| 20. | 1:35.355 |
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