The Mercedes driver headed his McLaren rival by a meagre 0.058s at the end of Thursday’s running.

The second day of testing included a race run and pit stop simulations for Piastri.

“Another productive day,” said Piastri, who completed 86 laps.

“With each day at these tests, we’re learning more about the car.

“We focused on some race preparation running this afternoon, seeing where we can find performance, which went well and we made some good improvements as a result.

“There’s still lots of performance to find, which is the case for every team on the grid, but overall, a smooth day.

“I’m looking forward to getting back on track in the morning to finish out testing.”

Max Verstappen has the Red Bull RB20 to himself on day two, completing 139 laps on his way to third while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wound up fourth.

Last year’s champion Lando Norris topped the morning session before his time was topped in the cooler evening conditions.

“We made some more good steps today,” said Norris after logging 72 laps.

“We’re gaining more and more understanding of the tyres, the balance and the strengths and weaknesses of our cars.

“From a tyre perspective, the running of the same sets of tyres on both long and short runs to see how they perform was useful for our learning.

“It was also good to try the start procedure in these new regulation cars at the end of the morning session.

“One more session of running tomorrow before we go racing, but I am feeling more confident.”

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The afternoon session, which began at 3pm local time, was stopped when Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin AMR26 suffered a power unit-related issue.

“It was not the easiest day with a few disruptions,” said Alonso.

“It was important to get some mileage in, but it wasn’t enough, and we couldn’t complete our run plan due to a PU-related issue that caused an early finish to the afternoon session.

“There are many things we need to fix, but I know everyone at the track and at the AMR Technology Campus is working at 100 percent capacity to find solutions.”

Testing will continue on Friday.

Results: Formula 1 Bahrain Pre-Season Test Day 2

Pos Num Driver Team Laps Lap Diff Gap
1 12 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 79 1:32.803
2 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren 86 1:32.861 0.058 0.058
3 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 139 1:33.162 0.359 0.301
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 78 1:33.408 0.605 0.246
5 1 Lando Norris McLaren 72 1:33.453 0.650 0.045
6 43 Franco Colapinto Alpine 120 1:33.818 1.015 0.365
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 73 1:33.987 1.184 0.169
8 63 George Russell Mercedes 77 1:34.111 1.308 0.124
9 31 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team 58 1:34.201 1.398 0.090
10 30 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 106 1:34.532 1.729 0.331
11 23 Alexander Rossi Williams 117 1:34.555 1.752 0.023
12 5 Gabriel Bortoletto Audi 29 1:35.263 2.460 0.708
13 87 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team 69 1:35.279 2.476 0.016
14 11 Sergio Perez Cadillac 50 1:35.369 2.566 0.090
15 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 68 1:37.472 4.669 2.103
16 77 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 58 1:40.193 7.39 2.721
17 6 Isak Hadjar Red Bull Racing No time
18 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine No time
19 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari No time
20 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time
21 41 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls No time
22 55 Carlos Sainz Williams No time