Formula 1: Mercedes struggled and Russell barely managed 26 laps in Bahrain

Within a week, Formula 1 will start playing the first of the 23 dates on the calendar. On the same stage, the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, the second of three pre-season test days ended this Friday with a worrying performance from Mercedes, especially when George Russell took to the track.

During the morning session, in which Carlos Sainz set the fastest time for Ferrari (1m32s486), Lewis Hamilton covered 72 laps and finished eighth, but lost some track time after a small piece flew out of his Mercedes and Fernando Alonso will trample him. This prompted the seven-time British champion to turn to the mechanics to fix the floor of the W14 with duct tape.

“It’s hot and we didn’t have the ideal setup for these conditions, which is part of what you learn with a new car.”Mercedes boss Toto Wolff analyzed on Sky Sports stating that Hamilton’s car was “unbalanced”.

McLaren also didn’t have good momentum in the first session, with Lando Norris ninth and well behind the other drivers, struggling to manage a wobbly MCL60. “Like everyone we need to grow so we are encouraged by what we see on the lap but I think we will go into the first race well short of our targets,” said managing director Zak Brown.

For his part, at Red Bull, Checo Pérez’s first contact with the Bahrain track was not good. The Mexican was eclipsed by Verstappen, who had opened the pre-season tests on Thursday with the best times of both sessions, and was only able to finish seventh, more than a second behind Sainz in the fastest of his 76 laps.

In the afternoon it was Verstappen who dominated until the Chinese Guanyu Zhou snatched the best time from him by 40 thousandths of a second, stopping the clock at 1’31.610 with the softer compound (C5) less than half an hour from the end.

Unlike the day before, when he had completed 157 laps, the Dutchman was able to do little (47) despite setting his time on the C3, which will be the softest tire in the first Grand Prix of the season.

On the way to what could be his third consecutive title, it seemed that in a few laps Verstappen had taken his foot off the accelerator in the last sector so as not to pulverize the buoys.

In Ferrari, however, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc took the place of Sainz and was eighth (1:32.725), but with a C2 tyre.

The bad news of the lot was given by Russell, who was in charge of generating the only red flag of the day. The Englishman, who earlier said the team might not be ready to fight for wins when the season kicks off next week. he could only do 26 laps when a hydraulic problem took him out of the race, as evidenced by the car’s steering wheel and subsequently confirmed by the team on their social networks.

Thus, Mercedes managed just 98 laps, a number that does not reach the three digits expected for a preseason session. They also became the second team to cause a suspension after an electrical failure in Felipe Drugovich’s Aston Martin caused it on Thursday.

“When we were here last year, there were a lot of red flags about the porpoise. We didn’t know how to fix it, we were a bit lost. It definitely feels like a step in the right direction in terms of feeling compared to how we were. 12 months ago, things are much better, reliability has been strong so far. But of course we have things we need to improve.”Russell had said motor before suffering the hydraulic failure.

While the times set in the test week give teams an estimate of pace for the season with different set-ups, and title contenders could hide their true pace while smaller teams may seek publicity with fast one-lap times, the pace of ‘Alfa Romeo bodes well.

Beyond the fact that Zhou’s time was the best in the pre-season tests, it is also important that the Chinese rider was one of those who lapped the most (132), together with Logan Sargeant (154) – shooting guard of Sainz in the first session and the one who did the most kilometers- and Alonso (130), who finished third for Aston Martin in the second round.

In the final part of the two sessions, various race situations were tested, such as the appearance of the virtual safety car, yellow and red flags and departures, one aborted and the other “real”.

The third day of free practice, the last before the start of the season, will take place on the Sakhir track this Saturday.