F1 Bahrain Testing Day 2: Zhou nips Verstappen using super soft Pirellis

By Mark Cipolloni

Zhou Guanyu slapped on a set of super soft C5 Pirelli tires meant for street circuits and turned a ‘glory’ lap of 1m31.10s to just nip defending World Champion Max Verstappen by 0.040s as Day 2 of preseason F1 testing came to an end in Bahrain.

However, Verstappen never made a low fuel soft tire qualifying simulation run, and it was clear he was easily fastest comparing apples to apples.

Verstappen went out early in the PM session of the 2nd day of preseason testing in Bahrain and within a few laps he blew everyone of out of the water on medium tires with a lap of 1m31.650s in his #1 Red Bull Honda.

Verstappen time was 0.8s faster than everyone else at the time.

He then sat out most of the session, but went out late to put some long runs in with heavy fuel, and once again his long run pace was far better than anyone else.

World Driving Champion Max Verstappen laps in the Red Bull RB19 ominously fast on long runs on the C3 Pirelli tires, which will be the soft tires for next weekend’s race.

Zhou said while the team was aware it was just testing and “everyone is trying different settings” seeing his name and that of the team “up there in the timing sheets” was a good feeling.

“It’s been a positive day overall, we got more mileage in and went through all the targets and tasks we had set for ourselves, so I can say I am happy,” the 23-year-old said.

“The car felt reasonably good, both in daytime and night-time conditions, and I felt more confident pushing as the day progressed.”

“Today was the final day of preseason testing for me, and I am very much looking forward to the start of the season next week. I feel ready and excited about the new campaign and I can’t wait to be racing again,” Zhou said.

Fernando Alonso was 3rd quick in the much improved Aston Martin, 0.555s seconds behind Verstappen on the same C3 tires and 0.595s behind the Alfa Romeo.

Nick De Vries was 0.612s behind Zhou Guanyu, and he was also on the softest C5 Pirellis, so rather ominous.

Nico Hilkenberg rounded out the top-5 for Haas running the C4 tire, which will not be used next weekend.

George Russell brought out the only red-flag when his Mercedes ground to a halt out on the track with a hydraulic problem.

Bahrain Final Preseason Times Day 2

POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME	LAPS	TIRES
1	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake	1m31.610s	133	C5 Super Soft
2	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1m31.650s	47	C3 Medium
3	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1m32.205s	130	C3 Medium
4	Nyck de Vries	NED	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1m32.222s	74	C4 Soft
5	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	1m32.466s	68	C4 Soft
6	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1m32.486s	70	C3 Medium
7	Logan Sargeant	USA	Williams Racing	1m32.549s	154	C5 Super Soft
8	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1m32.725s	68	C3 Medium
9	Oscar Piastri	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m33.175s	74	C3 Medium
10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1m33.186s	59	C3 Medium
11	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	1m33.442s	67	C3 Medium
12	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1m33.490s	49	C3 Medium
13	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	1m33.654s	26	C3 Medium
14	Sergio Perez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1m33.751s	76	Prototype
15	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	1m33.954s	72	C3 Medium
16	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m35.522s	65	C2 Medium
17	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1m35.708s	85	C2 Medium