Bottas tops morning test session Bahrain

Published on 19 April 2017 by Stefan Meens

Valtteri Bottas topped the leaderboard on Wednesday during the second day of the first in-season test. The Mercedes driver completed the Bahrain International Circuit in 1:31.771. Esteban Ocon (Force India) and Daniil Kvyat (Scuderia Toro Rosso) completed the top three. Bottas was also the most productive driver of the morning with 78 laps.

There were a couple of old and new faces in the paddock. Pierre Gasly, the reigning GP2 champion and currently competing in the Japanese Super Formula category, took over Red Bull Racing driving duties from Daniel Ricciardo. The Frenchman completed 45 laps and was ninth fastest.

The second rookie was Sergey Sirotkin. Renault’s official test driver. At Williams, veteran Gary Paffet took to the track in a Formula 1 car the first time since 2013, when he was still a McLaren test driver. The British DTM driver drove 55 laps and ended the morning in P5.

After a dreadful start to the season and an equally bad start to this in-season test, McLaren were finally able to get some laps on the board, 49 in total, with Stoffel Vandoorne sixth fastest. On the other hand, Ferrari had a difficult morning. Sebastian Vettel only managed eight laps.