Ocon tops disrupted morning session on Day 2 in Bahrain

Alpine's Esteban Ocon topped the timesheet midday in Bahrain, the Frenchman edging Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen in a morning disrupted by two red flags.

Ocon achieved his best effort – a 1m34.276s – on Pirelli's softer C4 compound, but the time was several tenths slower than the benchmark time set by AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly on Thursday.

The session's first stoppage and red flag occurred when Nicholas Latifi's was forced to park his car following a dramatic fire that had ignited at the back of the Williams.

Bahrain Pre-Season Test - Day 2

After a troubled opening day on Thursday, McLaren's Lando Norris lost no time getting down to work, the Briton setting the first benchmark of the day.

But Norris was quickly overhauled by Ocon at the wheel a pink-liveried Alpine, while Leclerc leapfrogged both drivers to lead the times at the end of the first hour.

But half an hour later, a soft-shod Ocon recouped the top spot with a 1m34.276s that would stand as the quickest lap of the morning.

The Frenchman's best flyer was 0.090s faster than Leclerc's best time which the Scuderia charger had set on the mid-range C3 compound, while Verstappen clocked in third with the harder C2 rubber.

Behind the leading trio, Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel was fourth, the German suffering a minor right-wheel mechanical issue that forced him to peel off the track.

Norris ended up fifth, a few tenths ahead of AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda.

Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Alfa Romeo, ahead of Haas' Mick Schumacher, the two drivers sitting at the bottom of the lap count for the session, with respectively 25 and 23 laps on the board.

George Russell was a distant ninth in the pecking order, but logged 67 laps, the most of any driver, in the morning session.

Sadly, Latifi's morning came to a premature halt mid-way through the session when the Canadian suffered a braking issue at the end of Sakhir's main straight that ignited a fire at the back of the Williams.

Latifi eventually grounded to a halt but the damage caused to his car's the rear suspension by the fire ensured that there would be no lunch break for Williams crews.

The running was interrupted by a second red flag in the closing minutes of the session due to an FIA race control systems check.

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