Five days later, Formula 1 cars return to the Sakhir track for the second pre-season testing session in Bahrain. Teams will once again have three days, from Wednesday, February 18th to Friday, February 20th, to test their cars before the official start of the championship.

While only the three hardest compounds in the Pirelli range were available last week, for the next three days, teams were able to select 24 sets from all five dry-weather options. Additionally, teams were permitted to carry over sets used for no more than 9 laps during the previous week.

The two most requested compounds were the C3 and C2, chosen by ten out of the eleven teams. Only Mercedes preferred to stick exclusively to the three hardest options already used in previous days. McLaren, Ferrari, Racing Bulls, Audi, and Haas added the fourth compound, the C4, to their selection.

Red Bull, Alpine, Williams, and Aston Martin opted for softer choices instead. Laurent Mekies’ team limited themselves to C2, C3, and C4, while Alpine and Williams also included the C5. Aston Martin is the only team to have chosen strictly the three softest compounds (C3, C4, and C5). The newcomer, Cadillac, spread its request across all available options: it is the only team to have at least one set of every dry compound.

Sessions will begin at 10:00 each day and conclude at 19:00. Spectators in the stands or watching the live broadcast can distinguish the tyres via a specific identification system designed for testing: C1 and C2 with white logos, C3 and C4 with yellow logos and C5 with red logos.

The two compounds sharing the same colour will be distinguishable because the harder of the two will feature a chequered flag pattern on the sidewalls. Therefore, only the C2 and C4 will lack this decoration, featuring only the Pirelli and P Zero logos.