The incident…
… between Piastri and Stroll is here again in the video. Incidentally, it was not examined. The uncertain release of AlphaTauri, on the other hand, does. The hearing is already over, so we should get a verdict soon.
De Vries: “A little behind”
P18 and P19 for the two AlphaTauri drivers today, only Sargeant in Williams was slower. “It’s no secret that we could be a little behind,” admits rookie de Vries.
He is “quite satisfied” with his work today, he emphasizes and explains that “progress” has been made. Nevertheless, the Dutchman knows: “There is certainly still a lot of work ahead of us.”
The problem is that you can’t really make any “big changes” on a weekend. “Maybe this track doesn’t suit our characteristics too well [des Autos]”, he explains.
After a few weekends you will have a clearer picture. At least in Bahrain it should be difficult with points.
The most important thing for Friday…
… we have summarized in a separate photo series for you. The fastest way to catch up in the evening!
Alonso: Total confidence in Lawrence Stroll
Also on ‘Sky’, the two-time world champion revealed how Lawrence Stroll lured him to Aston Martin. “Lawrence has this vision in everything he does. It’s very difficult to see Lawrence Stroll fail at anything,” Alonso said.
“So I think it’s only a matter of time before Aston Martin can challenge the top teams,” explains Alonso, who clarifies once again: “I think we still have a long way to go.”
“We are in a very interesting process with a completely new car, a new technical department and a lot of things that we still have to learn,” he emphasizes, putting the brakes on expectations again.
In the medium to long term, however, he believes in the success of the team.
Alonso: Don’t look at times yet
The fastest man of the day is speaking to ‘Sky’ and says Friday was “another step in the right direction”. The car feels “good”. But: You don’t pay that much attention to times.
According to Alonso, the focus is still on things like working on the set-up. And the team also wants to improve off the race track. Aston Martin still has a long way to go.
Then tomorrow in qualifying we’ll know if it’s just stacked low…
Longruns
As promised, we are already analyzing the long runs from FT2 in the background. First conclusion: Verstappen was the best, followed by Alonso, then Perez. The rest lag behind the top 3.
But as I said, it’s just a first quick analysis. It will be more detailed tonight in our live analysis!
Mercedes: New side box will not be a copy
Mercedes is one of the few teams that has not yet copied Red Bull’s side box concept because they continue to rely on their “zeropod concept” introduced in 2022.
Although you have “dealt with other solutions,” says chief technology officer Mike Elliott, you still don’t want to be a copy of Red Bull or another team.
The full story is here!
FT2: Closing time
That was it with FT2, as announced, there were no more time improvements. Best time for Alonso in front of Verstappen and Perez, Mercedes is only in midfield. Here in the ticker we continue with voices for the first training day of the year.
Before that, a quick overview:
Report FT2
Result FT2
Overall result Friday
FT2: Problems with Stroll
The Canadian is in P6, but was more than half a second slower than his team-mate on his fastest lap. Now he has just revealed on the radio that he is still somewhat restricted due to his injury.
When asked to take a different line in Turn 1, he explains that it’s not possible because of his hand. Not optimal. The last five minutes of FT2 are already running.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT2: Analyse
Speaking of long runs: Kevin Scheuren, Christian Nimmervoll and Kevin Hermann will take a close look at them again in the coming hours and analyze them for you.
Your conclusion is then tonight in our big analysis! It starts at 7:30 p.m. live on the Formel1.de YouTube channel.
FT2: Longruns
The teams are switching to long runs, so we shouldn’t see any improvements in times. Hamilton (P8), Russell (P13) and Sainz (P14) are noticeably far behind. It really can’t be representative.
It could also be due to the amount of fuel and the like, or the drivers made a mistake somewhere on their lap. In any case, we’re still not much smarter than before, we’ll probably have to wait for qualifying …
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT2: Red Bull behind Alonso
Verstappen doesn’t manage a 1:30 time either, he “only” lands on P2 behind Alonso. Doesn’t have to mean anything, of course, maybe there was just a little more fuel in the Red Bull or the engine wasn’t revved up as much as in the Aston Martin.
Nevertheless, it’s no longer a coincidence that Alonso has always been at the front since the test. Meanwhile, there is an investigation against AlphaTauri because of an unsafe release. De Vries almost cleared Norris in the pit lane.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT2: Alonso in front
Many drivers are improving, but Alonso is the only one who can manage a 1:30 time. 1:30.907 for him, so for the moment he leads in front of Perez, Leclerc and Hulkenberg. Where did Haas suddenly get this time from…?
But it’s just a snapshot, because we’re still waiting for a fast lap from Verstappen, among other things.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT2: New best time
The Leclerc best time lasted for a long time, now Stroll pushes himself to the top with a 1:31.450, which is almost four tenths faster. But it doesn’t have to last long, because other drivers are now on the road again on fresh softs…
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT2: Piastri is looking for a limit
The Australian is still looking for the limit. In FT1 he almost spun once, he just misbraked in Turn 1. Shortly before that he almost crashed into Stroll, who was traveling slowly.
Apart from that, we are of course also curious about the McLaren performance now, because the MCL60 didn’t make a strong impression in the test. Norris and Piastri are currently on P12 and P18.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT2: times
Leclerc clocks a 1:31.843 on his first lap. Just for the order of the eggs: That is already around nine tenths faster than the Perez best time from FT1 (1:32.758)! The track is now significantly faster and the drivers are also using the soft tyres.
Means: We’ll throw the times list from the first training session in the bin right away. But that was already clear beforehand. Incidentally, Perez’s best test time was 1:30.305. Let’s see if we can crack it today.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!