Bahrain Tests 2 – Day 1 (morning): Pérez on top, Räikkönen and Ferrari stuck in the garage

The first morning of the last session of winter testing in Bahrain came to an end with the best time set by Sergio Pérez, driving his Mercedes-powered Force India. The Mexican driver was the only one so far to complete a lap under 1:36, apparently using super-soft tires.

Behind him, the indomitable Mercedes W05, driven by Nico Rosberg, which has already completed the Sakhir circuit 64 times, more than a race distance (57 laps, 308 km), and the McLaren MP4-29 of Kevin Magnussen, which is more than two and a half seconds away from the Force India, with 40 laps on the counter.

Adrian Sutil and his Sauber are in 4th position, but one of the important news of the day is the relatively significant running of Daniel Ricciardo, at the wheel of the Red Bull RB10, as he completed 32 laps and the best time for a Red Bull car since the start of the Bahrain outing.

On the side of other leading teams: Ferrari has been grounded since 8:40 AM French time, plagued, according to Autosprint, by electronic issues. As for Lotus, track performance is better (31 laps), but the morning ended with a red flag for Pastor Maldonado. A red flag also for Kamui Kobayashi at the beginning of the session. The Japanese driver seems to have suffered a gearbox issue on his Caterham CT05.