On the time sheet, the defending champion is 521/1000 ahead of the German Mick Schumacher (Haas), 695/1000 ahead of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 978/1000 ahead of the Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and 1 sec 039/1000 ahead of Briton George Russell (Mercedes), for the Top 5.

However, these differences must be weighed by the choice of tires: Verstappen and Russell were equipped with the softer, faster on a lap, those of Schumacher, Leclerc and Alonso were a notch less.

As for the German, his time was set after 7:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. French), in a cooler climate more favorable to speed.

The competition had then returned to the garage, Haas having obtained authorization to drive later to make up for its morning missed Thursday because of a delay in the routing of its freight.

At Mercedes, whose bodywork was the surprise of this second test session with sidepods almost absent from its sides, this is not the time to party.

"At the moment I don't think we're going to fight for the win but the car has the potential to get there," Hamilton warned at a press conference.

"People are going to be surprised"

His single-seater appears difficult to maneuver.

Frenchman Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) confirms having seen Hamilton "struggle" and thinks his team has "a bit of a job to fight at the front".

"Next week (during the first Grand Prix, still in Bahrain, editor's note), we will have a much better demonstration of our pace but I think people will be surprised, maybe...", continues the seven-time champion of the world, crowned six times with Mercedes since 2014.

"People keep asking whether we're putting ourselves down or not, but it's a little different this year," said the reigning runner-up.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in the paddock of the Bahraini circuit of Sakhir, March 12, 2022, on the sidelines of F1 pre-season testing Giuseppe CACACE AFP

Hamilton and the others insist on the performance of Ferrari, which has worked hard to produce a fast and reliable F1 after two difficult years.

"It's certainly one of the easiest preparations I've had before a season. No major problems, comments Leclerc. Especially on such a new project, you always expect to find obstacles and, for So far, apart from porpoising which is always a problem in certain conditions, it's been pretty straightforward and we've managed to keep improving."

"Porpoising" is the unexpected perverse effect of the profound change in the aerodynamics of single-seaters this season: in a straight line, they bounce up and down, more or less strongly depending on the car, which risks breaking parts and hinders the pilots.

"It doesn't mean anything right now"

But, on the clock, "everyone seems to be quite close at one time or another", tempers Leclerc.

"We know how much margin we have but we have no idea how much the others hide their game. That's why we really have to be careful. It's good to be in the lead but it doesn't mean anything for the 'moment."

Another team expected because in constant progress since 2019, McLaren has marked time in Bahrain, after the promises of the first tests in Barcelona at the end of February.

"Here we encountered a number of issues which limited the number of laps we did, especially on the long stints," said British driver Lando Norris.

"So we're a long way from where we want to be, where we need to be and where we could say we're confident going into the first race."

Monegasque Charles Leclerc at the wheel of his Ferrari on the Bahraini circuit of Sakhir, March 12, 2022, on the sidelines of F1 pre-season testing Mazen Mahdi AFP

Additional tile for the English team, its second driver Daniel Ricciardo did not participate in these tests, suffering from Covid-19.

However, the Australian's isolation period will end before the Bahrain GP, ​​from Friday to Sunday.

See you during qualifying, on the same circuit of Sakhir on Saturday, to find out who was hiding his game or not!

© 2022 AFP