Two days at the top for Sergio Pérez in Bahrain - Red Bull have a better day's running, as fires hit two teams
Published by Christine
Sergio Pérez made it two days in a row at the top of the timesheets, posting the fastest time early on and retaining the position throughout the day. Fernando Alonso was less than a tenth of a second behind him, but it was third place that caught most of the attention. Red Bull had a far better day, with Daniel Ricciardo completing 66 laps and finishing within two tenths of a second of Pérez.
Further back, Mercedes had a few mechanical troubles, with Lewis Hamilton ending up in the gravel first thing and then rounding out the day with a gearbox problem. Jenson Button, in the Mercedes-powered McLaren could only complete 52 laps as his car also developed trouble with the gearbox.
We were still able to do a long-run on high-fuel this afternoon. The basic car is good, and there’s a great deal of potential there, but there’s still a lot of work to do. We have a good understanding of the power-unit, and we know how to race it, but, in terms of balance and grip, the car isn’t quite there yet.
Marussia continued their forward progress and managed to complete 75 laps, their best mileage to date in 2014 pre-season testing. The team were concentrating on shorter runs in the morning, with longer race simulations in the afternoon, and they managed to finish firmly in the middle of the timesheet.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S Pérez | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:35.570 | 108 |
| 2 | F Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:35.634 | 122 |
| 3 | D Ricciardo | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:35.743 | 66 |
| 4 | F Massa | Williams F1 Team | 1:36.507 | 103 |
| 5 | J Button | McLaren Mercedes | 1:36.901 | 52 |
| 6 | J Bianchi | Marussia F1 Team | 1:38.092 | 75 |
| 7 | L Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:39.041 | 89 |
| 8 | JE Vergne | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:39.636 | 61 |
| 9 | E Gutiérrez | Sauber F1 Team | 1:39.976 | 106 |
| 10 | P Maldonado | Lotus F1 Team | 1:41.613 | 31 |
| 11 | M Ericsson | Caterham F1 Team | 1:42.516 | 55 |
Lotus and Caterham brought up the rear of the pack, and whilst Red Bull may have had a more encouraging day, the two other Renault powered cars struggled. Both Pastor Maldonado and Marcus Ericsson found their cars on fire at various points throughout the day, adding to the overall four red flags tally.
The 100-lap mark is crossed in style by Checo, who heads into the triple figures for the second day in a row! #FeelTheForce
clubforce
Temperatures have dropped a little due to cloud cover, with a mild head wind heading into T1. The weather, sponsored by @MercedesAMGF1...
Really good day :) Getting there with @Marussia_F1Team ! Now we need another good one tomorrow. Good nighttttt !
Somewhat appropriately we're having barbecue for dinner on track.....
Two more days remain, giving teams a few more opportunities to top up their mileage totals and squeeze in a couple more race simulations. At this point, we'd usually start paying more attention to the actual lap times, still with the huge pinch of salt, but this year it doesn't seem as though the teams, even the Mercedes powered ones, are anywhere near ready to be putting the hammer down.
