Kevin Magnussen put McLaren-Mercedes on top of the time sheets on the second day of testing in Bahrain. He lapped the track in 1m34.910s, but did only 46 laps, a lot less than some others. Nico Hulkenberg was second for Force India but the lap was 1.5secs slower than Magnussen’s, which suggests they were using different tyres. The Hulk did 59 laps with a best of 1m36.445s. Ferrari concentrated on distance running with Fernando Alonso Ferrari doing 97 laps with a best of 1m36.516s, while Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg did 85 laps with a best of 1m36.965s. Valtteri Bottas was next in the Williams-Mercedes, clocking a 1m37.328s after a massive 116 laps.
Kamui Kobayashi was sixth fastest for Caterham-Renault with a 1m39.855s after 66 laps, while Sebastian Vettel finally got some laps in the Red Bull, completing 59 laps with a best of 1m40.340s,
Jean-Eric Vergne was next for Toro Rosso-Renault with a 1m40.609s lap after 58 laps, Esteban Gutierrez was next for Sauber with a 1m40.717s after 55 laps, while there were continued teething problems for Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault) who did 18 laps only and Max Chilton (Marussia-Ferrari ), who did just 17 laps.
joeblogsf1 
Great to see Kamui Kobayashi making the Caterham the fastest Renault engined car at the Bahrain test so far – good advert for real F1 drivers im my humble opinion
It looks like RB is still not out of the woods, although today was encouraging. I still think that they will restore the status quo by the end of the tests.
Not that you can read much into testing, but does anyone know of a site that lists what tyres all drivers were on when they set their fastest lap? From the sites I read I’ve only found out that Magnussen was on supersofts and Alonso on softs. I just find it a bit strange that along with the normal listing of time, gap and laps completed there isn’t a column for tyre used.
…and Joe, I’m not looking for you to post stats on everything, that’s not what your blog is about. My main reads are yourself, autosport and BBC (although, no Gary Anderson will mean less interesting coverage). Also a couple of other blogs mainly Intelligent F1 and Scarbs. And GP+ which I will get a renewed subscription from myself.
i for one certainly hope so as well. not that i want red bull,per se, to be back at the very top and favouring vettel. more so that daniel ricciardo can have great car to start his career at the top.
that said, a late night call from a friend in europe informed me that his bahrein contact had told him that the renault problem was really deep seated. the rumour was that the crank/mguk shaft integrity was a very limiting factor to how far the teams could take the unit in testing. all of this info boils down into, at least third hand, so make of it what you will. however it does add up with renaults statement yesterday that the teams can do as many laps as they like? what he didn’t say was at what level.
Well I don’t care – it’s my Old Man Birthday today and I know I shouldn’t be reading anything into the testing times but methinks Magnussen was finally allowed to go a bit quicker for a few laps – A slight glint of what Bahrain 2 is going to more about.
Joe, sorry to go off topic; according to Germany’s Sport Bild Infiniti does not wish to renew its Red Bull deal beyond 2015. Any legs to this rumour?
I am reserving judgement on that one
How are the new cars sounding, Joe?