Magnussen comfortably ahead on Day 2 at Bahrain

F1 Test, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit

The second day of testing at Bahrain has gotten underway, surprisingly by Jean-Eric Vergne who took the Toro Rosso STR9 for a first run out on the track after a very difficult Wednesday for the team.

After 2 hours running, the Toro Rosso was actually the most active car on track, totalling 27 laps. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso completed 9 laps while Bottas managed to do 11, more than double the amount of the day before when the team struggled with a fuel pump.

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At midday, Alonso topped the timesheets, still with his best time of the morning. He lapped the Bahrain International Circuit in 1:37.700. After that, the focus was different as the Spaniard was frequently seen lapping the track slowly and with constant speeds long the straight to perform aerodynamic verification.

It was however Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren who later in the day went fastest, comfortably ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. Fernando Alonso was third fastest and the only one of the top 5 to not be powered by Mercedes engines.

Kamui Kobayashi was the fastest Renault runner in 6th, half a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The latter's 56 laps are however reason for optimism at Red Bull Racing as that surpasses the total running they were able to do in all 5 days of testing before today. Sister team Toro Rosso also enjoyed a fairly active day with Vergne completing 58 laps, mostly before noon as there were several stoppages of the car in the afternoon.

Gutierrez in the Sauber did 55 laps, but it's particularly Grosjean with Lotus and Chilton in the Marussia who were only able to do 18 and 16 laps respectively during the entire day.