Sainz ends Friday testing on top as Verstappen and Hamilton close in

Updated 20:15 AST: Haas' Kevin Magnussen has set the fastest lap of the day, following the team being permitted to run for an extra hour after the chequered flag. Magnussen posted a time three-tenths quicker than Sainz, as Haas were given special dispensation to make up for a loss of track time on Thursday.

Carlos Sainz's early afternoon pace in the Ferrari F1-75 proved too much for any of the other teams to overcome, as the Spaniard's 1:33.532 set the standard for the second day of testing in Bahrain.

With Alpine's Esteban Ocon fastest at the lunch break, Sainz quickly moved to the front in the early afternoon after taking over the Ferrari from Charles Leclerc.

Running the Soft C4 tyre, Sainz lowered the benchmark from 1m34s to his eventual fastest lap to finish almost half a second clear of anyone else.

Up until the last 20 minutes of the day, that was Aston Martin's Lance Stroll with a 1:34.064, as the Canadian showed impressive pace through the afternoon on the Soft C4 compound.

However, he was usurped in the final stages of the day as Red Bull sent Max Verstappen out for a series of fast runs. Running the Soft C4 tyre, Verstappen worked his lap time down to a 1:34.011 to finish just under half a second adrift of Sainz on the same tyre compound.

Hamilton fights understeer, Magnussen returns

With Stroll in third, Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place. The Mercedes driver, who appeared to be struggling with severe understeer during the entire afternoon, used the Soft C5 tyre for his best lap – his 1:34.141 putting him six-tenths off the ultimate pace.

Elsewhere, Kevin Magnussen also made his first appearance of the 2022 pre-season after taking over Nikita Mazepin's vacated Haas. The Danish driver finished ninth, 1.3 seconds clear of Mick Schumacher's best time from the morning – Magnussen logging 39 laps during the afternoon.

He will continue at the wheel for an extra hour following the chequered flag, as Haas have been given special dispensation for some track time to make up for missing the opening morning due to logistics issues.

Reliability issues rear their head for several teams

Williams' day ended early, with the Grove-based team wrapping up due to damage to their FW44, caused by a small fire in the morning session. Nicholas Latifi therefore logged just 12 laps for the team.

Lando Norris was another to bring out the red flags, as the McLaren driver stopped outside of the pit lane just after the halfway point of the afternoon.

Norris had another compromised day at the wheel of the MCL36 as he carried out McLaren's testing programme in the absence of the ill Daniel Ricciardo, with the team struggling to get on top of braking issues that also ruined their Thursday running.

After a morning stoppage for Sebastian Vettel in his Aston Martin, there was also a late problem for Stroll – his issue not resulting in the red flags being shown as mechanics pulled his car back up the pit lane.