Lambiase reveals: 'Would Perez unfairly limit his first impression RB20'

Gianpiero Lambiase, the race engineer at Red Bull Racing, explains why Sergio Perez was also in charge of the second session on the second day of testing. The morning session was cut short early after a red flag due to a piece of kerbstone drain on the track. GP explains the decision not to put Max Verstappen behind the wheel for the afternoon session.

"It was another solid day’s mileage for the Team. The red flag this morning led us to changing the driver swap we had planned for post-lunch, as it would have otherwise unfairly limited Checo’s early impression of the RB20," Lambiase explained after the second day of testing in Bahrain.

During the first session, when Perez drove, Red Bull's RB20 was even briefly on fire. The Austrian team had problems with the brakes, which required some work. Partly due to this accident, the Mexican was unable to complete the desired number of laps.

"We are accumulating mileage at a good rate, which is positive for reliability and systems sign-off," the race engineer continued. "And beyond that, Checo was able to continue to evolve the setup to his liking having taken Max’s baseline from day one. We have plenty to analyse overnight ahead of what is an important final day of testing."