Perez tops first day at second Bahrain test

F1 Test, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit

The second 4 days of testing at Bahrain got underway today at Bahrain International Circuit, marking the last chance for teams to do some running before setting off for Melbourne for the first Grand Prix of the season.

Two hours into the session, Nico Rosberg again topped the timesheet for Mercedes AMG, ahead of Sergio Perez in the Force India, similarly powered by a Mercedes engine.

Of interest however is Red Bull Racing, as Ricciardo completed 17 laps and is third fastest early on thanks to a lap in 1:38.642, considerably faster than anything Red Bull was able to do last week here at Bahrain.

The least active teams this morning are Marussia with 10 laps, Sutil with 9 and Kobayashi with 7 following his stoppage on track that caused the first red flag of the day.

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By noon, the lap counters have increased considerably for most teams, but nobody has improved yet on Sergio Pérez fastest time, which was set on the supersoft tyres. It are however mostly the Mercedes teams who do the running, each of them having completed at least 50 laps by 1:00. Toro Rosso's Kvyat managed 56 laps while all others are stuck with 32 or less. Red Bull is among that group, but after a productive morning they have held Ricciardo in the pits while the team is working on the RB10.

At the end of the day, Perez still held the top of the timesheet, with Bottas coming second fastest thanks to a fast run at the very end of the session. The Finn completed a record 128 laps with the Williams today, a number not seen before during this year's winter test sessions.

Somewhat less active was Red Bull Racing. Their RB10 remained in the garage for most of the afternoon before managing 7 more laps towards the end of the day. Pastor Maldonado at Lotus had a similarly dismal day with an exhaust issue ending his running after just 31 laps.

Raikkonen meanwhile caused the end of the session in the closing minute as Ferrari were most likely doing empty fuel tank test.

Testing continues tomorrow at Bahrain.