Carlos Sainz completed a double race distance for previously struggling Williams and pushed Lewis Hamilton, the man who took his Ferrari seat, off the top of the testing timesheets in Bahrain on Thursday.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton was fastest in a wet and windy morning session but Sainz, doing a full day with a massive 127 circuits, lapped the desert Sakhir circuit in 1:29.348 seconds for the team, who finished ninth of 10 last year.
Sainz, who was also fastest on the second day of testing last year with Ferrari, was the only driver to do more than 100 laps.
"A bit of a stop-start day with the rain all the time in Bahrain, which is weird," said the Spaniard, who completed his entire programme and will next drive in practice for the March 16 season-opener in Melbourne.
"I feel as ready as I can be with a day and a half of testing and we will try to push flat out in Australia."
His time was 0.031 quicker than Hamilton, looking increasingly at home after his move from Mercedes, managed in 45 laps during a morning session interrupted by rain. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc got in 84 laps and was third.
"We’re making strong progress in understanding the SF-25 and learning how to get the most out of it and the reliability is good so far which is a positive sign," Hamilton said.
Ferrari chair John Elkann was on hand to watch proceedings, with the Italian team set to start the new campaign with high hopes of winning a championship for the first time since 2008.
Thursday was the second of only three days of pre-season testing and teams were carrying out different programmes with varying fuel levels.
Mercedes' George Russell was second in the morning and ended up fourth overall while his 18-year-old Italian rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth.
Champions McLaren had Lando Norris, fastest on Wednesday, only 14th but the Briton aborted a lap that was quickest of all in the middle sector and might ultimately have put him top.
"We have good innovation on the car. We have not stood still in the winter and I am excited to see it all work. So far so good but it’s obviously early days," team boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television.
"We have tried to enhance what we had but there is some stuff on there I don’t think has been totally noticed yet, which I think will happen in due course."
Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin ahead of Max Verstappen's new teammate Liam Lawson, who had a full day in the Red Bull and did 91 laps.
Australian rookie Jack Doohan and Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly were eighth and ninth with Racing Bull's Franco-Algerian rookie Isack Hadjar completing the top 10.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg had a rare testing collision in the morning.
Sainz tops testing timesheets for Williams in Bahrain
Image: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Carlos Sainz completed a double race distance for previously struggling Williams and pushed Lewis Hamilton, the man who took his Ferrari seat, off the top of the testing timesheets in Bahrain on Thursday.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton was fastest in a wet and windy morning session but Sainz, doing a full day with a massive 127 circuits, lapped the desert Sakhir circuit in 1:29.348 seconds for the team, who finished ninth of 10 last year.
Sainz, who was also fastest on the second day of testing last year with Ferrari, was the only driver to do more than 100 laps.
"A bit of a stop-start day with the rain all the time in Bahrain, which is weird," said the Spaniard, who completed his entire programme and will next drive in practice for the March 16 season-opener in Melbourne.
"I feel as ready as I can be with a day and a half of testing and we will try to push flat out in Australia."
His time was 0.031 quicker than Hamilton, looking increasingly at home after his move from Mercedes, managed in 45 laps during a morning session interrupted by rain. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc got in 84 laps and was third.
"We’re making strong progress in understanding the SF-25 and learning how to get the most out of it and the reliability is good so far which is a positive sign," Hamilton said.
Ferrari chair John Elkann was on hand to watch proceedings, with the Italian team set to start the new campaign with high hopes of winning a championship for the first time since 2008.
Thursday was the second of only three days of pre-season testing and teams were carrying out different programmes with varying fuel levels.
Mercedes' George Russell was second in the morning and ended up fourth overall while his 18-year-old Italian rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth.
Champions McLaren had Lando Norris, fastest on Wednesday, only 14th but the Briton aborted a lap that was quickest of all in the middle sector and might ultimately have put him top.
"We have good innovation on the car. We have not stood still in the winter and I am excited to see it all work. So far so good but it’s obviously early days," team boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television.
"We have tried to enhance what we had but there is some stuff on there I don’t think has been totally noticed yet, which I think will happen in due course."
Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin ahead of Max Verstappen's new teammate Liam Lawson, who had a full day in the Red Bull and did 91 laps.
Australian rookie Jack Doohan and Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly were eighth and ninth with Racing Bull's Franco-Algerian rookie Isack Hadjar completing the top 10.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg had a rare testing collision in the morning.
New McLaren feels similar to last year's, says Norris
Verstappen and Norris joke about their 'terrible' relationship
Hamilton goes fastest for Ferrari on second morning of F1 testing
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most read
Latest Videos