Hamilton fastest on final day

Mercedes driver ends with second fastest lap in Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton finished the fourth and final day of the second Bahrain test, setting a time just 0.02s off the fastest lap set by Felipe Massa on the same track this year, according to ESPN.

Hamilton, facing constraints due to gear box issues in the morning was let loose with super-soft tires on a low-fuel qualifying-style lap. He raced 69 laps with the fastest lap time of one minute 33.278 seconds, just 0.709 seconds faster than Valterri Bottas’ best lap for the day who had the second fastest lap time of 1:33.987 seconds.

Fernando Alonso had the third fastest lap posting a time of 1:34.280 while Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was fourth fastest on the track with the best lap time of 1:35.577.

Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso was the highest placed Renault-powered driver with a time 2.423seconds off Hamilton’s.

An extra 25 minutes were offered to all teams under Bahrain’s new floodlights, but reliability issues hindered most of the teams who failed to benefit from the offer. Bottas engine failed due to high mileage an hour before the testing time ended. McLaren had already suffered from the same problem earlier in the day.

Lotus’ racing woes continued with just 32 laps for Romain Grosjean on the final day. The team heads to Melbourne without a race simulation under its belt and with no practice start data to analyse.

Caterham was contented to complete 100 laps, while Marussia finished with 61 laps.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2014.

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