Bahrain Grand Prix action started this Friday with mixed results and one main truth: Ferrari is at full strength. Kimi Raikkonen had the fastest lap of the day in the second session with a 1:29.817 and his Ferrari teammate, Sebastian Vettel, was second in FP2 and was the fastest on race-simulations.
Ferrari Showed Speed, Mercedes Struggled And Gasly Impressed
Red Bull Racing had the upper hand in FP1 with Daniel Ricciardo in front of Valtteri Bottas‘ Mercedes. But Max Verstappen did only 2 laps in the first session. FP2 was not great for the Austrian team, with both drivers lined up behind Ferrari’s and Mercedes’ drivers.
Mercedes had some kind of setback. Valtteri Bottas was second in FP1, but Lewis Hamilton managed only fifth. In FP2 they showed better consistency, but could not match Ferrari’s pace and settled for third (Bottas) and fourth (Hamilton).
Raikkonen had a minor issue because of an apparent loose front-right wheel as FP2 approached its end. The Finn could be facing a penalty for an unsafe release.
Free Practice 1 (FP1)
Ricciardo ended the first session at the Sakhir Circuit ahead of the pack with a 1:31.060, three tenths clear of Bottas. The Australian’s time was 1.6 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel’s best lap in last year’s FP1. Both times were set with the same tyre: the soft compound tyre.
The top three teams did not use the softest compound available: the supersoft compund tyre.
Kimi Raikkonen finished ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen positioned his Ferrari #7 in front of Vettel exactly as he did in FP1 and FP2 at Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton did not have a special opening session in Bahrain. The reigning World Champion was fifth and 1.212 seconds off the leader’s pace. Hamilton was not able to improve because of a lock-up on his brakes and tyre damage as a result.
Haas F1 Team did very well once again. Romain Grosjean finished sixth, taking advantage of a suspected electrical problem on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.The Frenchman led the middle of the pack and was only two-tenths behind Hamilton’s lap time.
The surprise of the first practice in Bahrain was undoubtedly Toro Rosso-Honda, most specifically, Pierre Gasly. The French driver managed to put his Toro Rosso in seventh place and showed consistency, as he was third on laps completed with 26 laps.
Renault’s Carlos Sainz finished eighth with a 1:32.885 and Kevin Magnussen‘s Haas was the ninth best car. Nico Hulkenberg rounded the top-10, 2.004 seconds behind the leader.
McLaren couldn’t start the weekend dramatically well but Fernando Alonso was eleventh and close to Hulkenberg’s best time. Stoffel Vandoorne was thirteenth as he could not surpass Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, who ended twelfth on the timesheets.
Force India’s drivers Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon finished far back. The pink-colored team was testing aerodynamic devices.
Free Practice 1 Results:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:31.060 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 1:31.364 | +0.304s | 24 | |
| 3 | 1:31.458 | +0.398s | 18 | |
| 4 | 1:31.470 | +0.410s | 17 | |
| 5 | 1:32.272 | +1.212s | 21 | |
| 6 | 1:32.516 | +1.456s | 23 | |
| 7 | 1:32.779 | +1.719s | 26 | |
| 8 | 1:32.885 | +1.825s | 21 | |
| 9 | 1:32.971 | +1.911s | 19 | |
| 10 | 1:33.104 | +2.044s | 18 | |
| 11 | 1:33.223 | +2.163s | 24 | |
| 12 | 1:33.278 | +2.218s | 20 | |
| 13 | 1:33.364 | +2.304s | 25 | |
| 14 | 1:33.379 | +2.319s | 22 | |
| 15 | 1:33.467 | +2.407s | 29 | |
| 16 | 1:33.497 | +2.437s | 27 | |
| 17 | 1:33.508 | +2.448s | 22 | |
| 18 | 1:33.662 | +2.602s | 26 | |
| 19 | 1:33.794 | +2.734s | 23 | |
| 20 | 2 |
Free Practice 2 (FP2)
The most important session of Friday, as the time and temperatures are close to Qualifying and the Race, had Ferrari in front of Mercedes by half a second.
In a session with the main teams putting on the supersoft tyres, Kimi Raikkonen showed speed and led a Ferrari 1-2 in the final Friday session. The Finn’s best lap was a 1:29.817, clearly the fastest lap of the weekend so far.
Mercedes had a normal session. Bottas sustained a good rhythm and Hamilton, who used the medium tyre in the beginning, set a 1:30.472 and was fourth.
Verstappen recovered from his FP1 mechanical issues and finished fifth, just six thousandths in front of his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Renault’s Hulkenberg was seventh and more than a second off the leader’s pace. Pierre Gasly impressed again with an eighth place with the STR-Honda, McLaren’s Alonso and Vandoorne were ninth and tenth in an overall quiet practice event.
Long Run Pace
The top teams did their usual long run tests, with the cars heavy on fuel. Vettel’s Ferrari was the fastest under those conditions. The German was the only driver to lap under 94 seconds with a heavy car and did it using the supersoft compound tyres. Red Bull Racing drivers were constantly into the low 1:35 while Mercedes maintained their pace between 1:35.4 and 1:36. Hamilton had a good run closing at the end with a 1:35.1 on the medium tyre.
Free Practice 2 Results:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:29.817 | 32 | ||
| 2 | 1:29.828 | +0.011s | 37 | |
| 3 | 1:30.380 | +0.563s | 31 | |
| 4 | 1:30.472 | +0.655s | 32 | |
| 5 | 1:30.745 | +0.928s | 32 | |
| 6 | 1:30.751 | +0.934s | 31 | |
| 7 | 1:31.220 | +1.403s | 34 | |
| 8 | 1:31.232 | +1.415s | 38 | |
| 9 | 1:31.282 | +1.465s | 29 | |
| 10 | 1:31.422 | +1.605s | 35 | |
| 11 | 1:31.591 | +1.774s | 33 | |
| 12 | 1:31.601 | +1.784s | 34 | |
| 13 | 1:31.809 | +1.992s | 31 | |
| 14 | 1:31.868 | +2.051s | 34 | |
| 15 | 1:31.969 | +2.152s | 35 | |
| 16 | 1:32.372 | +2.555s | 37 | |
| 17 | 1:32.382 | +2.565s | 30 | |
| 18 | 1:32.474 | +2.657s | 37 | |
| 19 | 1:32.733 | +2.916s | 32 | |
| 20 | 1:32.908 | +3.091s | 38 |
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