F1 testing: What we learned on day two in Bahrain as Mercedes struggle with the W14

George Russell was forced to cut short his testing slot after a hydraulics fault with his Mercedes car

It’s two down, one to go in Formula 1 pre-season testing, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen the standout performer in Bahrain so far.

The reigning world champion was the quickest driver on Thursday and was 0.040 seconds away from repeating the feat on Friday, before being pipped to top spot by Zhou Guanyu late on, though the Chinese driver was driving on the softest tyre.

However it was a torrid day for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton struggling with the balance of the W14 this morning before George Russell was forced to stop out on track this evening due to a hydraulics issue.

Saturday sees the final day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit before all eyes turn to the first race of the season – also in the Gulf kingdom – next weekend.

Here’s what we learned from day two of F1 testing:

Verstappen picks up where he left off

The man who was utterly dominant last year – in the end winning 15 of 22 races – completed over 150 laps on Thursday as he drove for the full day and, after taking part in the evening session on Friday, that’s the last we’ll see of the Dutchman at testing.

The Red Bull driver can sit back and relax this weekend very satisfied, though. Leading throughout most of the evening session, he was only pipped right at the end by Alfa Romeo’s Zhou, but that wasn’t realistic as he used the softest C5 tyre.

Therefore, simply put, Verstappen has been the quickest man on track. Reliability, too, doesn’t look an issue, given he completed over 200 laps in total.

Let that remove any snippet of doubt: Verstappen is very much the man to beat.

Day to forget for Mercedes

So much anticipation in this three-day testing window surrounds Mercedes’ all-black W14 car.

While Toto Wolff insists the porpoising which hampered their 2022 campaign has “essentially gone”, it is far from plain-sailing.

George Russell was forced to cut short his afternoon testing slot due to a hydraulics fault (Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton struggled to put in a competitive lap time as he grappled with the balance of the car, while George Russell was forced to cut short his afternoon session by 90 minutes as his car stopped out on track due to a hydraulics issue.

Of course, on the other side of the coin, this is exactly what testing is for. Best to spot and iron out any issues now as opposed to next weekend. Not ideal, though, as the Silver Arrows target a return to the top.

Williams in upbeat mood

For a team who have finished bottom in four of the last five seasons, there is a cautious sense of optimism in the Williams garage right now.

Now led by former Mercedes strategist James Vowles, Williams’ rookie driver Logan Sargeant clocked up the most laps on Friday – 154 – and was second-fastest in the morning session.

It’ll be Alex Albon’s turn on Saturday but the ex-Red Bull driver was cheery speaking to media about their chances this season. A return to the midfield, perhaps?

McLaren fail to get out of the blocks - again

Much like last year, the opening weeks of the season look set to be problematic for McLaren.

CEO Zak Brown was frank on Friday, stating the team have “not hit” their goals for development in the off-season, and will be “off our projected targets” come the first race of the season next week.

Lando Norris – the team’s star entering his fifth season – was the second slowest man on track on Friday. Oscar Piastri was ninth.

Lando Norris was the second-slowest man on track on Friday (Getty Images)

The mood in camp matches a feeling of scepticism at their season launch last week. In many ways, the dampened expectations may help rookie Piastri in the long-term up against Norris, but it’s far from ideal.

Is it an AlphaTauri... or an Alfa Romeo?!

With new liveries comes new acclimatisation to spotting cars straight away on television – and it may take a race or two to get up to speed this year.

AlphaTauri now sport Alfa Romeo’s old sponsor Orlen on their rear wing and with flashes of red on their chassis and halo too, it’s been very easy to mistake Nyck de Vries for Zhou Guanyu!

Haas, too, have reverted to a mostly black livery this season, in similar fashion to Alfa. With Mercedes also looking to expose carbon fibre with an all-black car, it may take some getting used to as the race weekends progress this season.

Pre-season testing continues at 7am (GMT) on Saturday