F1 2023 Testing - Day 2

The second day of testing means some different setup changes, and some more miles rubbered in for the teams. Zhou Guanyu was able to whip out one very fast lap, topping the timing sheets for the day with a 1:31.610.

Charles Leclerc in the SF-23 at Pre-Season Testing in Bahrain

While Zhou was able to get in a solid quick lap, and the Alfa Romeo team got some decent running in to gather data for the day, it wasn't all smooth sailing. With just about 10 minutes left on the clock the Chinese drivers stint in the car came to an early end after the car was stuck in first gear coming out of the pit lane, and had to be rolled back to the garage.

Zhou Guanyu in Alfa Romeo’s C43 at Pre-Season Testing in Bahrain

As for the silver arrows, today wasn't their day. A hydraulic issue brought George Russell's running to a halt midway through the afternoon session and a red flag was brought out, the damage was significant enough that the team weren't able to get any more running in for the rest of the day. Neither Russell, nor Hamilton were setting lap times within the top 10, with the car likely setup in a long-run/sandbagged way to mask their true performance.

Red Bull had a pretty straight forward day of testing with no problems with the car, and setting a decent number of laps round the Sakhir circuit. Verstappen was almost matching Zhou's top time, just 0.040s off, while Perez split the Mercedes' times down in P14 for the day, with a 1:33.751.

Max Verstappen driving the RB-19 at Bahrain Pre-Season Testing 2023

A lot of the teams spent the day going for long haul runs, with the number of laps set by a fair amount of the drivers in the triple figures. Logan Sargeant was able to get 154 laps worth of data today, with the Williams proving to be a reliable machine round the track.

Aston Martin's AMR-23 is looking seriously quick, and reliable, with Fernando Alonso getting in a decent number of laps and fighting for the top spot on the timing sheets, just 0.595s off Zhou's fastest lap time. The new package brought in from the British team seems to be paying off, and looks to hopefully bring a promising season for the team.

Lance Stroll is still away from the track after a cycling injury meant he was unable to be behind the wheel this weekend in testing, with reserve driver Felipe Drugovich stepping in to help the team rake in the laps and get him some experience as well.

"He's doing well, we are assessing the situation... fingers crossed we'll have him here next week" - Mike Krack, Aston Martin Team Principal

Fernando Alonso driving Aston Martin's AMR-23 in Bahrain at the 2023 Pre-Season Testing

It was another day of struggle for McLaren, as the car spent most of the day in the garage being worked on. Zak Brown has admitted the team hasn't met their development targets so far at the start of the season, but remains optimistic about how the car will perform as the racing gets underway in a weeks time.