Valtteri Bottas tops the final day of the first F1 In-Season test at the Bahrain

Valtteri Bottas tops the final day of the first F1 In-Season test at the Bahrain International Circuit

This afternoon we saw Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas lead the way during the second and final of the first in-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz Jr despite Bottas stopping on the track like this team mate yesterday.

Valtteri Bottas spent his day focused on both aerodynamic work and to gain an better understanding of the Pirelli tyres, with Mercedes having made clear it was trying to crack its recent struggle with long-run form this week.

Despite causing one red flag by stopping on track due to a mechanical problem just before lunch, Bottas got through an intensive programme that saw him top the timesheets. His lap tally was in stark contrast to Ferrari, as Sebastian Vettel endured frustrations with a large amount of time lost in the pits.

In the morning, Ferrari discovered some hydraulic leaks during a set-up change in the garage and the work required left him on a tally of just eight laps before lunch. After getting going again shortly after 1pm, Vettel lost further time when data problems in the garage left engineers without telemetry and he had to stay put until the issues could be rectified.

In the end, Vettel managed to get more running done later in the afternoon to get some much needed data for the Ferrari team.

But today saw the McLaren-Honda team finally making some progress on the track after a disappointing start to their 2017 campaign. Despite having no changes being made to the engine specification since Tuesday’s problems, McLaren endured a pretty much trouble-free day of testing and Honda encountered no repeat of the MGU-H problems that have dogged it for the past week which is small yet promising signs the team has to build on for the rest of the season.

But it was Valtteri Bottas who was fastest on the second and final day of the first F1 in-season test with a stunning lap time of 1.31.360 and completed an astonishing 143 laps. Bottas finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place and ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr in third place.

Stoffel Vandoorne finished in fourth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in fifth place, Esteban Ocon in sixth place, Daniil Kvyat in seventh place, Gary Paffett in eighth place, Sergey Sirtokin in ninth place and Pierre Gasly in tenth place.

As we head further down the grid, Pascal Wehrlein ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in twelfth place.

Day Two Timesheet

1) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:31.260, 143 laps
2) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:31.574, 64 laps
3) Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1:31.884, 68 laps
4) Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1:32.108, 81 laps
5) Kevin Magnussen, Haas, 1:32.120, 88 laps
6) Esteban Ocon, Force India, 1:32.142, 60 laps
7) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:32.213, 61 laps
8) Gary Paffett, Williams, 1:32.253, 126 laps
9) Sergey Sirtokin, Renault, 1:32.268, 90 laps
10) Pierre Gasly, Red Bull, 1.32.568, 65 laps
11) Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 1.34.462, 91 laps
12) Sergio Perez, Force India, 1.35.015, 70 laps

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa