Perez remains on top as Red Bull improves

F1 Test, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit

The second day of testing got going with an immediately active Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari, the team continuing with aero verification before introducing updates later on in the test.

A few hours later, it became obvious that there were still problems on the horizon for Red Bull Racing as Ricciardo completed just 4 laps in the first 2 hours, none of them timed. The RB10 did feature a quick fix cooling inlet and outlet on the lower side of the sidepod, but it is unclear if that is enough for consistent running.

Hamilton in the Mercedes also proved active in the first three hours, completing more than 30 laps, even though none of them were targeted at raw pace.

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The afternoon saw lots of running for Pérez, Alonso, Massa and Gutiérrez, all going beyond the 100 laps. Williams in particular is impressive in the amount of mileage they have been able to do at this test. Ferrari's Alonso on the other hand also showed a shimmer of pace, doing the fastest lap around Bahrain for the Ferrari so far, while also setting a sector 1 time that was fastest of all, albeit followed by the Spaniard backing off and returning to the pits immediately afterwards.

Jenson Button in the McLaren was less fortunate at the team held his car in the pits for several hours after the Briton stopped halfway through the pitlane during the morning session. Red Bull Racing also had trouble around noon, but 66 laps and the third fastest time for Ricciardo is by far the best day of testing for the team this winter.

Lotus were the strugglers of the day with Maldonado stopping on track twice and the team needed a lot of time to get the car running again. The Venezuelan completed just 31 laps.