Kevin Magnussen fastest for Haas after red flags disrupt day two in Bahrain

Pre-season Testing

Magnussen fastest for Haas after red flags disrupt day two in Bahrain

Testing was hampered by six red flags on day two

Ewan Gale

Friday 11 March 2022 18:05 Updated: 18:13

Kevin Magnussen made use of Haas' extra hour of running to stun F1 and go fastest on day two of the Bahrain pre-season test.

The Danish driver, who only re-signed with the team on Wednesday to replace ousted Nikita Mazepin, produced a time of one minute 33.207secs.

Haas was granted the extra time, plus an hour ahead of Saturday's running and two hours at the conclusion of the test to make up for time lost through freight delays earlier this week.

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Carlos Sainz continued Ferrari's fine form to finish second during a disrupted day of running at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Spaniard completed 61 laps and finished three tenths down but just under half a second faster than third-placed Max Verstappen.

The day, though, was dominated by six red-flag stoppages as reliability struck again.

Nicholas Latifi's was the most spectacular incident as Williams' day finished with a car fire just 12 laps into its running in the morning.

Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon also stopped on track as well an FIA systems check at the end of both the morning and afternoon sessions.

There could have been further disruption had Sebastian Vettel not opted to unselfishly escape around the outer loop layout used for the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton finished fifth for Mercedes, with George Russell's efforts in the morning adding to a combined 114 laps for the Silver Arrows.

Ferrari's confidence in the F1-75 seemed to be revealed when the team set up to run a full race rehearsal, only to be scuppered by Norris's stoppage in the afternoon.

The McLaren driver, standing in for team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who continues to recover from illness, was forced to sit in the garage for a long period of time through the day as the team's brake struggles continued.

Lance Stroll showed strong pace on the way to fourth for Aston Martin, with the morning's fastest driver Ocon recovering from his stoppage to log 111 laps for Alpine.

Yuki Tsunoda piled on the mileage for AlphaTauri with 120 laps before being forced to jump clear of a potential electrical issue for the AT03.

Alfa Romeo's miserable testing programme continued with only 73 laps completed between Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.

Verstappen and Sainz, meanwhile, provided a glimpse at racing opportunities with F1's new generation of cars with a battle in the last hour.