McLaren driver Lando Norris set the new fastest time of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, with just a day and a half of prep running now left before the start of the season in Melbourne.
The fastest laps came early in the Thursday morning session, with Norris quickest using a C4 tyre but Red Bull driver Max Verstappen - driving for the first time this week after he'd ceded the car to Isack Hadjar on Wednesday - just a tenth off with the harder C3 compound.
Norris's 1m33.453s was an 0.006s improvement on George Russell's benchmark from the day before. Russell himself was just under seven tenths off here on the Mercedes, but was most prolific in terms of mileage - and again appeared to be quickest in his long runs relative to the McLaren and the Red Bull, albeit with fuel levels and engine modes naturally unclear.
The other expected frontrunner, Ferrari, was effectively absent, disappearing from the track after wowing the F1 paddock early on by showing off its extremely unorthodox 'rotating' rear wing design. The SF-26 only made it back out at the very end of the session for the practice standing start.
A C4 tyre propelled Alex Albon and Williams to their fastest time of testing yet, a 1m35.130s, which was good enough for fourth place - albeit with Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) and Ollie Bearman (Haas) right behind, Bortoleto's best time coming late on on the 'test' tyre (the C3 produced at Pirelli's other facility in Turkey) and Bearman's seemingly being set on a regular C3.
Bortoleto's time was, remarkably, an exact match for his best time from the day before, while Bearman's is Haas's best yet.
There were some notably low mileage numbers through the field, with Bortoleto limited to 29 in the Audi, Liam Lawson on 27 in the Racing Bulls and Lewis Hamilton logging just five in the Ferrari.
The Cadillac, in Valtteri Bottas's hands, logged what appeared to be a complete race simulation, at a glance around three seconds a lap off the fastest race sims from the previous test.
Once again, the session ended with a practice race start, one Hamilton nailed with a strong launch while the likes of Russell bogged down off the line.
Test 2, Day 2 times so far
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m33.453s, 72 laps
2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.131s, 56 laps
3 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.658s, 77 laps
4 Alexander Albon (Williams) +1.677s, 71 laps
5 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.810s, 29 laps
6 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1.826s, 69 laps
7 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.053s, 54 laps
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +3.506s, 27 laps
9 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +4.019s, 40 laps
10 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +6.217s, 5 laps
11 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +6.740s, 58 laps
