Bahrain Test: Day 2 Recap

Date: Wednesday, April 3

Location: Bahrain International Circuit – Sakhir, Bahrain

Layout: 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn circuit

Driver: Pietro Fittipaldi (Morning) / Romain Grosjean (Afternoon)

Laps Completed: Fittipaldi – 48 laps / Grosjean – 87 laps

Distance Completed: Fittipaldi – 259.776 kilometers (161.424 miles)

Distance Completed: Grosjean – 470.844 kilometers (292.581 miles)

Best Lap Time: Fittipaldi – 1:31.209 (12th overall) / Grosjean – 1:30.903 (10th overall)

Fastest Lap: 1:29.029 by George Russell of Mercedes

Most Laps: 143 laps by Alex Albon of Toro Rosso

Rundown

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team fielded Pietro Fittipaldi and Romain Grosjean in the second and final day of in-season Formula One testing Wednesday at the 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn circuit Bahrain International Circuit.

Fittipaldi exited the garage promptly at 9 a.m. local time to commence the morning run program. Eager to build on the 20 laps he set during Tuesday’s weather-affected opening test, Fittipaldi enjoyed a solid outing running Pirelli’s C2, C3 and C4 tire compounds on the VF-19. With 48 laps recorded, and a fastest time of 1:31.209 – set on the C3 yellow rubber, Fittipaldi ended the session 12th overall from the 16 drivers participating.

Grosjean returned in the afternoon with an extensive workload planned to maximize the favorable conditions. Cycling through a variety of used C3’s for the majority of his track time – recording close to 70 laps in the process, Grosjean ended the day switching to a fresh set of the softer, grippier C4 red-walled tires. A best lap of 1:30.903 followed, placing Grosjean 10th fastest at the checkered flag with a total of 87 laps.

George Russell, driving for Mercedes, set the day’s quickest time (1:29.029) while Alex Albon from Toro Rosso ran the most laps (143)

In total Rich Energy Haas F1 Team racked up 197 laps in Bahrain testing for 1066.164 kilometers (662.511 miles). The mileage was split between Grosjean (129 laps) and Fittipaldi (68 laps).

Next up is Round 3 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship – the Chinese Grand Prix April 14 in Shanghai.

Pietro Fittipaldi

“I was really happy with how the morning went. I’m a lot more comfortable being back in the car now, as both in Abu Dhabi last season, and in Barcelona earlier this year, it was a new experience driving that car. I was able to carry some consistency this time around as I was familiar with the VF-19 having driven it in Spain, and again briefly yesterday. I felt both comfortable and confident in the car, it was good. We went through our whole run plan and I worked well with my engineer. We made some progress, and we were competitive, which I’m happy about.”

Romain Grosjean

“It’s been a good afternoon. We’ve gone through a lot of test items, obviously trying to understand our pace over the weekend. I think we made some progress. We’ve now got a lot of data to look at to prepare for China. Generally, I think it was a very good afternoon for us.”