F1 Testing Day Two AM: Lewis Hamilton beaches Mercedes, Daniel Ricciardo fastest from Fernando Alonso

McLaren’s new star signing Daniel Ricciardo continued the promising start his team have made to F1 2021 by again topping the morning session at Bahrain testing on Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton beached his Mercedes with a spin into the gravel mid-way through the session but it proved only a brief setback as the world champions completed 58 laps – already 10 more than they managed in the whole of Friday.

But they remain bottom of the mileage charts at the mid-point of F1’s shortened pre-season programme.

A gearbox change and general car handling issues on Friday had led Mercedes to admit they had made a “poor start” to the three-day test with their new W12 car.

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, made his full return to F1 action after two seasons away and immediately ran competitively, completing 60 laps for his first outing in Alpine’s striking A521.

The 39-year-old Spaniard revealed on Friday that he would have to race all season with two titanium plates in his jaw after breaking it and undergoing surgery in a cycling accident in Switzerland just four weeks ago.

Sergio Perez was another debutant for a new team, with the Mexican finishing fourth fastest in Red Bull’s RB16B.

Nicholas Latifi was fourth for Williams, with AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda fifth fastest.

But the Aston Martin team hit gearbox trouble and Sebastian Vettel was restricted to just nine laps. With Lance Stroll scheduled to take over the car for the afternoon, four-time champion Vettel now has just four hours of track time left to prepare for the season-opening Bahrain GP for his new team on March 26-28.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Latifi also had spins amid continued windy conditions at Sakhir.

Enjoyed my time track side today : Mercedes look like they’re coming back into the performance window, Red Bull looks v good, Alpine with Alonso also looks very stable and impressive on corner entry to medium / slow speed corners, Sainz looked like the car was heavy with fuel… pic.twitter.com/ZggVSzM5YM

Saturday’s testing action resumes at 12pm GMT, live on Sky Sports F1.

More to follow…

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