Update | Zhou the fastest: his reaction and those of others in the midfield

Zhou Guanyu ended the second day of testing fastest. The Chinese was a fraction slower than Max Verstappen, albeit on a softer tyre compound and in cooler conditions. Nevertheless, his glory run was a success: Zhou topped the list. His reaction, and those of other drivers and team members in the middle and back field, here in a row.

Alfa Romeo F1

Zhou Guanyu was in action all day for his team. For him, the test is over after Friday. He reflected on the test in a press release from his team:  “We are well aware this is testing, of course, and everyone is trying different settings, but it feels nice to see my name and that of the team up there in the timing sheets. It’s been a positive day overall, we got more mileage in and went through all the targets and tasks we had set for ourselves, so I can say I am happy. The car felt reasonably good, both in daytime and night-time conditions, and I felt more confident pushing as the day progressed. Today was the final day of pre-season testing for me, and I am very much looking forward to the start of the season next week. I feel ready and excited about the new campaign and I can’t wait to be racing again.”

Alpine

The fewest laps of all and the times driven are also nothing to write home about. On the face of it, Alpine had a disappointing test, but Pat Fry, Chief Technical Officer, wants nothing of that: “It’s been another productive day of testing for the team today with Esteban in the car in the morning and Pierre in the afternoon. With only three days of testing, we always aim to be ambitious by fitting in a busy programme packed with many different test items and, subsequently, various set-up changes. While we managed to complete over 100 laps today, the usual teething problems that do occur at pre-season testing did pop up throughout the day and that certainly held us back from completing more mileage. Nevertheless, we’ve gathered plenty of useful data to work through to help us continue our learning process of our 2023 package."

Haas F1

Haas experienced few problems on Friday. Kevin Magnussen commented: "It feels good but it’s always hard to see where you are against your competitors. So far, we feel good and we’re happy with what we’ve got. We need to do more work to understand the car better and today we got into a different area, trying things we didn’t yesterday, so we’re learning. There have been very few problems and we’re now getting into more performance related testing which is nice and more interesting for us."

Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was equally upbeat: "Today was a positive day - it was a good, busy afternoon where we got lots of things done I feel and a lot of interesting data collected as well. Also for myself I’m building more of a connection with the car and trying it in different conditions, as you do in testing. I don’t think a qualifying run is the number one priority for me – I’ve done enough and I know what’s coming – and I drive in the morning tomorrow where the temperatures are not as representative."

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda drove a half-day session in the AlphaTauri. The Japanese spoke of a good session, in which he drove the most laps of all. "This also allowed us to catch up on our programme, as we fell short on the number of laps we wanted to run yesterday. Today we mainly focused on long runs where we found some limitations, but at the same time, there are positives to take from the good data we gathered for the race, which we can continue to build on tomorrow. Overall, I’m happy with my driving and feedback to the team, which is constantly improving. I will continue to work like this, and I’m excited to start working on short runs tomorrow.”

Williams

Logan Sargeant is getting more and more comfortable in the Williams: "I think today tops the most kilometres I’ve ever done in a day. I was able to physically hold up well. We got through so much running which is a testament to the team and the hard work they’ve put in. We moved in the right direction the whole day and it was really positive.We looked at shorter runs this morning and considering where the track temp was, I was relatively happy with how the car was feeling. Throughout the long runs this afternoon the car was in a good window and I could drive it exactly how I wanted to. There are still somethings we’re chasing but I’ll leave that up to Alex tomorrow. Overall, I’m really happy with where we’ve got the car and I can’t wait to go racing next week."