Carlos Sainz signed-off in style for his Bahrain testing, topping the timesheets on Day 2 at the Bahrain International Circuit.

With a final full day at the wheel before handing the Williams over to Alex Albon for Day 3, Sainz set the headline time of a 1:29.348 on a day where he clocked up 127 laps, while Ferrari completed the top three, Lewis Hamilton marginally up on Charles Leclerc.

Sainz P1 from Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain

After Hamilton set the pace on the morning of Day 2, there was plenty of driver changes for part two of the running.

Hamilton handed the Ferrari SF-25 over to Leclerc, McLaren swapped Oscar Piastri for Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli took over from George Russell in the Mercedes W16, Lance Stroll was in at Aston Martin for Fernando Alonso, Jack Doohan tagged in at Alpine, Oliver Bearman at Haas, Isack Hadjar at Racing Bulls and Gabriel Bortoleto was in at Sauber.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz was doing the full day at Williams, the same true for Liam Lawson, who had time to make up at the wheel of the Red Bull RB21 after being restricted to just 28 morning laps due to an engine pressure issue.

And it was eyes to the sky as the light went green, a 60 per cent chance of rain confirmed at an unusually chilly Bahrain International Circuit. The drops would begin to fall, with the floodlights required at only 1500 local time.

A big lock-up for Antonelli at Turn 1 – sending him wide – was a sign of the tricky conditions, but it was no bother for Carlos Sainz, who sent himself top of the leaderboard with a 1:29.366, 0.013s up on Hamilton.

However, it was a case of don’t speak too soon for Sainz, who soon got himself in a spin down at Turn 1. No harm done as he righted the Williams FW47 and set back off on his way.

Leclerc meanwhile was working his way up the order, rising to P3 and with potential to go faster armed with his C4 Pirelli tyres, before in the final sector he found Hadjar in the VCARB 02, who doing his own programme, was not required to get out of Leclerc’s way, as drops of rain returned.

With Leclerc spinning at the final corner and coasting into the pit lane, it seemed the conditions were becoming dicey. There was a track temperature of just 16.9C and air 15C out there.

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As the slips and slides continued, we hit the halfway mark for the afternoon session with Sainz still P1 from Hamilton, and Leclerc completing the top three.

After a slow start to his session in the McLaren MCL39, Norris was now getting the laps in as he surpassed the 50 mark, spending half of one of those laps cooped up behind Bortoleto’s Sauber, while minutes later a lock-up at the hairpin nearly saw him collect Antonelli.

All of this was happening against the backdrop of light rain returning, according to Hadjar.

But, Sainz was still able to find a fraction more time to re-enforce his P1 position, improving to a 1:29.348 with his C3s and passing the century mark for laps as we entered the final hour of Day 2 in Bahrain.

At the other end, Haas’ status as comfortably the slowest team of the day was to be taken with a huge pinch of salt, as reliability, mileage and communication were their points of focus for the day.

Norris would put down some late-session laps on the C3s, a run seemingly more designed for practice pit stops at McLaren.

A wide moment at the final corner for Norris would end a lap which had seen him go purple in Sector 2.

Sainz was following that pit-stop practice model, with some practice starts thrown in for good measure before the clock reached zero on Day 2 – and Sainz’s time at the wheel in testing – with the Spaniard P1 on the leaderboard.

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