F1 Testing Report | Fire, Fast Ferrari, and Red Flags on Day 2

Sainz Reigns Supreme

Early into the afternoon session, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz set a lap-time that would not be beaten for the rest of the day. A 1:33.532 saw a benchmark that no other team was able to beat despite it being set while the sun was still out, in much higher temperatures. All the lips in the paddock are whispering that Ferrari are the team to beat and this showing can only back-up this feeling. 

Issues, issues, issues

Red Flags were the name of the game today in testing with multiple big failures plaguing the teams as they desperately attempt to gain as much mileage as possible in Testing. The first, and biggest, issue of the day happened in the morning with the Williams of Nicholas Latifi catching fire in the rear wheel-covers, putting an end to the team’s running for the day. Luckily Latifi was quick to hop out, but this incident was not the only issue of today’s running. Issues for Sebastian Vettel saw him forced to end running early in the morning session, with Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris seeing stoppages in the afternoon session but were able to continue their running. 

The comeback kid

For the first time of the 2022 season, Kevin Magnussen saw some running in the Haas today. Even after a year out of Formula 1, the Dane was almost immediately back on the pace, after a few sketchy sideways moments. Once Magnussen got into the motions of things he immediately started to impress, setting a lap-time faster than his teammate, Mick Schumacher. 

Porpoising problems

Even after the Barcelona test two-weeks ago, and the first day of Testing yesterday, porpoising still seems like a massive problem for a lot of the teams. Most prominently, the reigning Constructors’ Champions, Mercedes seem to have it the worst. More often than not, the W13 could be seen bouncing up and down while it flew down the main straight, and even through certain corners. Will the teams be able to dial out this issue or will it be something that they will have to deal with all season long? Only time will tell. 

The standings

Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 1:33.532 (C4)

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.479 (C4)

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.532 (C4)

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.609 (C5)

Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +0.744 (C4)

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.834 (C3)

Lando Norris (Mclaren) +1.077 (C3)

Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) +2.488 (C3)

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +2.973 (C3)

Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) +3.270 (C3)

Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) +3.455 (C2)

Mick Schumscher (Haas) +4.314 (C2)

George Russell (Mercedes) +5.053 (T)

Nicholas Latifi (Williams) +6.313 (T)

Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) +6.452 (T)