Formula 1 News: ‘Trick’ Mercedes engine powers Antonelli to top preseason time

Using the ‘trick’ high compression ratio Mercedes engine, Kimi Antonelli turned a lap of 1m32.802s around the Bahrain International circuit on Thursday in his #12 Mercedes for the fastest lap in preseason Formula 1 testing this year.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Using the same ‘trick’ Mercedes engine but in the superior Rob Marshall designed McLaren MCL40, Oscar Piastri turned the 2nd best time, just 0.058s behind Antonelli.

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull RB22 powered by the Red Bull-Ford engine, was 3rd fastest, 0.359s behind Antonelli. Verstappen’s race simulation late is complete and he pitted for a well-earned break having notched up 139 laps for Red Bull today. His neck will be feeling that tonight. We suspect the Dutchman is still hiding a lot of speed.

Lewis Hamilton bolted on a new set of C3 compound tires on his #44 Ferrari to go 4th quick on the day, 0.605s behind Antonelli

Lando Norris rounded out the top-5 based on his time from the morning session, 0.650s behind Antonelli.

The top 4 cars set their time on the C3 compound, whereas Lando Norris was on the softer C4 compound.

It was another bad day for the Adrian Newey designed Aston Martin-Honda lemon.  The car caused another red flag with Fernando Alonso at the wheel. He only managed the 15th best time, a massive 4.6s behind Antonelli.

It was a good day for Sergio Perez in the #11 Cadillac. He wound up only 14th, but a respectable 2.566s off the pace – the best showing by Cadillac so far.

At the end of the session, the cars lined up for a practice standing start using the new longer start procedure. All the cars got away ok, but it was not as close as recent years.

Lewis Hamilton had the best start, as he did in the morning. The Ferrari appears to be a rocketship off the line. Is Ferrari pushing more than the others, or do they have an edge when it comes to starts with these new power units?

More to follow……..

Bahrain Week 2 Day 2 Preseason Test Times