F1 Testing: Mercedes’ Antonelli Leads Day 2 of Second Week’s Sessions
Kimi Antonelli maintained Mercedes’ position at the top of the timesheets on the second-to-last day of preseason testing in Bahrain, setting a new overall benchmark lap time of 1:32.803.
Antonelli was 0.058 seconds faster than the time recorded by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri earlier in the day on the same C3 compound tyres, while Max Verstappen secured the third-fastest time for Red Bull, trailing Antonelli by 0.359 seconds.
The Mercedes driver achieved his time during the afternoon session after taking over the car from teammate George Russell, who participated in the morning session. Both drivers are scheduled to share the car on the final day of testing on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton’s last planned day of testing was hampered by a problem that kept his Ferrari in the garage for a significant portion of the morning session. By the end of the day, he had completed 78 laps and recorded the fourth-fastest time, which was 0.605 seconds slower than Antonelli’s best.
Despite the morning setbacks, Ferrari will find encouragement in Hamilton’s two practice starts at the conclusion of both sessions. Positioning himself on the grid to replicate the revised start procedure suggested by the FIA for the opening race in Australia, Ferrari-powered vehicles demonstrated noticeably improved starts compared to their competitors.
During the afternoon session, Hamilton began in 10th place as drivers left empty rows on the grid to prevent collisions, and he managed to overtake four cars to take the lead by the first corner.
Source: espn.com
