The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished this Friday as the fastest of the first day of free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championshipin a second session in which he positioned himself ahead of the Ferraris of Monegasque Charles Leclerc and Spaniard Carlos Sainz, while Fernando Alonso (Alpine) finished fifth.
With sunset taking over the Sakhir circuit and in conditions more similar to those of the race than those of the morning session, the current world champion, fifth in Free Practice 1, showed his cards a little more in a second session in which he established a time of 1:31.936 that was two tenths off the best time of the preseason -also set by him- and that made him unbeatable.
After the ‘RB18’ from ‘Mad Max’, the two ‘Scuderia’ single-seaters finished, which they repeated the positions they had already established in the morning just behind Frenchman Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri). With a medium tyre, both the Monegasque and the Spaniard took control of the session, ahead of a surprising Alonso.
It was with the appearance of the soft compound that they gave up dominance against the Dutchman, but even so they managed to stay close to their mark. In this way, Leclerc finished second less than a tenth (0.087), and Sainz repeated the third place in the first free practice at 0.584. The Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull) stayed awayone second behind his partner, seventh.
With the British George Russell (Mercedes), Alonso managed to finish the day in the ‘Top 5’ as the last of the drivers less than a second behind Verstappen. The Asturian, eighth in the morning session, set the first great reference time with the softs (1:32.877) and managed to stay among the leaders, fueling hopes in the Alpine garage.
Behind, pilots such as the Finnish Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), who barely rolled in the morning, the German Mick Schumacher (Haas) or the seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who although he seems to have left behind the problems of ‘porpoising’ due to the ‘ground effect’ fell from seventh to ninth place and shows the lack of performance of the ‘silver arrows’ . Danish Kevin Magnussen (Haas) completed the ‘Top 10’.
In the morning session, Gasly set the best time, a 1:34.193 on soft tires that no one was able to beat in a session that set off alarms in Alpine after Frenchman Esteban Ocon’s car caused the first red flag of the year by losing the new pontoon of the ‘A522′ in the first few minutes.
Second free practice session
Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 1:31.936
Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 1:32.023
Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari) 1:32.520
George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 1:32.529
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) 1:32.877
Valtteri Bottas (FIN / Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 1: 32.951
Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) 1:32.958
Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 1:33.085
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:33.144
Kevin Magnussen (DEN / Haas-Ferrari) 1: 33.183
Lando Norris (GBR / McLaren-Mercedes) 1: 33.280
Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 1:33.360
Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 1:33.621
Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 1:33.789
Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 1:33.953
Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:33.958
Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:34.061
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:34.166
Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 1:34.486
Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes) 1:34.735
With information from Europe Press.