Zhou powers Alfa Romeo to top of timesheet on second day of F1 pre-season testing at BIC

Zhou powers Alfa Romeo to top of timesheet on second day of F1 pre-season testing at BIC

Zhou Guanyu enjoyed an impressive second day of Formula 1 Aramco Pre-Season Testing 2023 today at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir, topping the timesheet with a narrow four-hundredths-of-a-second gap ahead of double F1 world champion Max Verstappen.

Zhou steered his Alfa Romeo C43 contender to an ultra-quick lap time of one minute 31.610 seconds around BIC’s 5.412-kilometre track. His mark was set during his afternoon run and was the day’s best overall.

Testing concludes Saturday with one final full day of running at BIC. The morning session will be from 10am to 2pm and the afternoon from 3pm to 7.30pm. BIC will be welcoming fans again on Saturday.

Those who are eager to get a glimpse of the 2023 cars in action can purchase their tickets at BD5 apiece, with tickets for kids aged three to 12 at BD2.5 each.

Tickets will be available at the gate, at bahraingp.com, or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000. Those who bought their F1 tickets before 1 February have free access to testing.

Gates will be open from midday to 7pm to fans. All those attending the F1 pre-season tests will be able to follow the action from BIC’s Main Grandstand, which overlooks the F1 Pit Lane, the teams’ garages and the circuit’s main straight.

Zhou was one of three drivers who took to the track the entire day for their respective teams, completing a total of 133 laps.

He finished 0.040 seconds clear of Verstappen on the second day’s final classification, with the Red Bull Racing ace covering 47 laps during the afternoon session in his RB19. Zhou’s day two best was more than a second quicker than the pace-setting fastest lap of Verstappen during the first day of tests.

The red flags came out briefly this evening after George Russell’s Mercedes F1 W14 stopped on track and had to be lifted off.

Fernando Alonso finished third overall for Aston Martin, 0.595s off Zhou’s leading pace. He too tested the whole day and completed 130 laps in his AMR23 challenger.

Nyck de Vries for AlphaTauri was fourth 0.612s from first in his AT04 car, while Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth for Haas with a lap 0.856s behind Zhou’s in the VF-23.