Thursday 20 February 2014

Magnussen leads the way for McLaren on day two but Kobayashi shines for Caterham

(McLaren Mercedes)
 
McLaren's Kevin Magnussen topped the times on the second day of winter testing at the Bahrain International Circuit on Thursday. The Danish driver completed 45 laps and his fastest time of 1m 34.910s was just under 2 seconds fastest then Sahara Force India's Nico Hulkenberg who lead the way this morning.
 
The German driver completed 59 laps and made it a Mercedes 1-2 as the engine supplier continue to progress with their new power unit and indeed with all four of their team's Mercedes, Williams, McLaren and Sahara Force India.
 
Nico Rosberg completed 84 laps for Mercedes and it would appear that the German manufacturer has really found a sweet spot with the new 1.6 litre V6 turbocharged power trains as their team's have completed the most amount of mileage since winter testing started at the end of last month.
 
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third fastest for the Italian team and completed 96 laps of the Sakhir circuit. The Spanaird now hands the F14-T to Kimi Raikkonen who will conclude the Bahrain test for the team.
 
The Williams F1 Team continued to show that they have an extremely competitive car as Valtteri Bottas finished the day in 5th place and completed a staggering 115 laps. However the big surprise of the day was Kamui Kobayashi who finished the day in 6th place for the Caterham F1 Team just ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who had a much better day with his Red Bull RB10. The German completed 59 laps more then double what the Milton Keynes based squad managed during the opening test .
 
Jean Eric Vergne was 8th for Toro Rosso and completed 58 laps for the Italian team. He finished the day just ahead of Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez who completed 55 laps for the Swiss team. The Mexican finished the day just ahead of the Lotus F1 Team's Romain Grosjean who completed 18 laps for the Enstone based outfit on the same day it was announced that the team have extended their partnership with Renault for 2014 and beyond.
 
Pastor Maldonado will take over from Grosjean from tomorrow for his first full test after conducting a shakedown of the E22 in Jerez last week.
 
The Marussia F1 Team's Max Chilton finished the day in 11th place and completed 16 laps. Testing continues tomorrow when the team's will switch their driver's around.
 
©Ben Johnston 2014

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