Williams’ Carlos Sainz topped the second day of the 2025 F1 pre-season test.
Sainz set 1m 29.348 early in the afternoon session to top the day’s running ahead of Hamilton by just 0.031 seconds, after the Ferrari driver produced 1m 29.379 to top the morning session on a largely undisrupted day of running as teams focused primarily on data gathering.
Morning
With rain in the air, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Mercedes’ George Russell were first out on track but the latter soon traded fastest laps with his ex teammate and now Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton in the opening hour.
Hamilton however found himself quickest on the hour mark after he posted 130.080 just 50 minutes into the morning session, as he, Sainz and Russell quickly moved below yesterday’s fastest lap time set by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
A heavy rain shower fell 70 minutes into the session which kept the majority of drivers in the pit lane as Haas’ Esteban Ocon ventured out on intermediates, after his team and Aston Martin were the only constructors to bring intermediate and wet tyres to this test.
Once the track began to dry, Sainz moved to within 0.010 seconds of Hamilton’s benchmark time before Russell was the first to dip below the 90-second barrier, as the Brit produced 1m 29.879, which Hamilton beat by 0.204s to return to the summit on 1m 29.675.
Hamilton eventually laid 1m 29.379 as the benchmark time with just over 40 minutes of the morning session left, as Russell found himself 0.399s shy at the checkered flag after he completed 70 laps.
Afternoon
Red Bull and Williams kept Liam Lawson plus Sainz respectively in their cars after the lunch break whilst the eight other teams rotated their drivers, with Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar first to venture out onto the circuit.
That continuity saw Sainz move top just 28 minutes into the session with 1m 29.366 to head Hamilton by just 0.013s, before the Spaniard further lowered his own benchmark by 0.018s to 1m 29.348 on his second flier on C3 tyres amidst recurring rain throughout the afternoon running.
Hamilton’s morning time otherwise remained unbeaten as his teammate, Charles Leclerc could only finish third-fastest as the checkered flag fell after stewards opted to test out the red flag procedure, just like they did in the morning session with no issues.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1m 29.348 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.031 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.083 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.430 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.436 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.881 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 0.904 |
| 8 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | + 1.020 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.082 |
| 10 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 1.327 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.352 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | + 1.445 |
| 13 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.473 |
| 14 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.534 |
| 15 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.709 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 2.109 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 3.723 |
| 18 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 5.024 |

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