Valtteri Bottas ended the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain with the fastest time, despite more mechanical problems afflicting Mercedes and their customer Aston Martin.
Bottas set his pacesetting lap of a 1:30.289s late in the afternoon session, on a run on the softest C5 tyres. However, Bottas lost a considerable amount of running earlier in the session due to an issue with his car’s floor, which compounded the gearbox problems that held him back yesterday.
Similar Mercedes gearbox issues stopped Sebastian Vettel from getting any meaningful running with Aston Martin. The German managed just six laps in the morning session before his car began a lengthy spell on jacks in the garage. Vettel did return to the track before the end of the session, but only recorded four more laps before handing over to Lance Stroll for the afternoon.
Lewis Hamilton also had a troubled day of testing for Mercedes. The defending champion drove in the morning but spun into the gravel towards the end of the session and brought out the red flag. He ended the day 15th fastest, only ahead of Vettel.
Not all the Mercedes-powered teams had problems today, however, with McLaren continuing the strong pace displayed yesterday. Daniel Ricciardo was one of the early pacesetters and topped the morning session, while Lando Norris was quickest for a while in the afternoon before ultimately ending the day fourth behind Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Stroll.
Alpine also had a solid day with Fernando Alonso at the wheel of the A521. The Spaniard was second-quickest behind Ricciardo in the morning session, and logged a total of 128 laps by the end of the day. He also completed a comprehensive run plan that included testing three different floor configurations and two different engine covers.
Following Esteban Ocon’s 129 laps from day one, Alpine are now leading the way in terms of combined mileage heading into the final day of testing. Meanwhile, all four Mercedes-powered teams have the fewest total laps, with Williams on 215 followed by McLaren (195), Aston Martin (177) and Mercedes themselves (162).
However, Nicholas Latifi did record the most laps of any driver on day two, with 132 for Williams.
Day 2 classification:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:30.289 | 58 |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | +0.124 | 87 |
| 3 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | +0.171 | 70 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | +0.297 | 52 |
| 5 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | +0.471 | 124 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.597 | 73 |
| 7 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | +1.383 | 132 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | +1.393 | 117 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | +1.926 | 52 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | +2.050 | 127 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | +2.395 | 57 |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | +2.594 | 88 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +2.783 | 56 |
| 14 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | +2.812 | 76 |
| 15 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +3.110 | 58 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | +8.560 | 10 |