11/04/2025 18:01
McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris served notice they will
be a force to be reckoned with for the remainder of the Bahrain
Grand Prix weekend. In the more representative conditions under the
lights of the Bahrain International Circuit that will prevail for
qualifying and the race, Piastri and Norris were head and shoulders
ahead of their F1 rivals. With final practice due to be staged in
the heat of the day, Friday night's running offered a clear glimpse
of what to expect when it comes to the one-lap showdown in
particular on Saturday. Piastri even had a clear edge over Norris
as the Australian finished with a soft-tyre, low-fuel lap of
1:30.505s, finishing 0.154s clear of Norris. The best of the rest
was George Russell in his Mercedes, over half a second down on
Piastri. Ferrari falter with new floor For FP2, in contrast to the
high heat of the first session, the track temperature had dropped
by 14 degrees to 34, and the air 'cooler' by five degrees to 30.
McLaren has suggested so far this season it holds an edge in such
conditions. It will be a surprise if it does not lock out the front
row of the grid, and from there finish with a one-two on Sunday,
barring incident. The circuit is old and abrasive, affording
McLaren an advantage as team principal Andrea Stella claims the car
is 'more gentle' on its tyres compared to the other teams.
Initially, running a new floor on a Ferrari that has so far
disappointed this year bar Lewis Hamilton's sprint pole and victory
in China, Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc fared well, each
taking a turn at the top of the timesheet early on. It quickly
became clear, however, that the bar raised was not very high. As
the soft tyre runs unfolded, Hamilton and Leclerc slowly slipped
down the pecking order, becoming also-rans in comparison to the
McLarens. Leclerc at least managed to finish just 0.013s behind
Russell, but like the Briton, was more than five-tenths of a second
adrift of the McLaren pair, with Hamilton a second down in eighth.
Russell's rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli was fifth quickest,
0.722s fadrift, ollowed by the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar, who
was faster than the lead Red Bull of Max Verstappen in seventh by a
tenth of a second. Verstappen, who sat out FP1 for Ayuma Iwasa,
complained early on about the ride of his RB21, that it was
"jumping a lot", before later targeting the brakes, stating they
were not working as he would like on two separate occasions. Behind
Hamilton, fellow Briton Oliver Bearman in his Haas was just 0.008s
behind the four-time F1 champion, with Williams' Carlos Sainz
completing the top 10 ahead of team-mate Alex Albon. Fernando
Alonso, who sat out first practice in favour of reserve Felipe
Drugovich, lost a further 30 minutes of FP2 due to a steering wheel
issue that forced Aston Martin to change parts of the steering
system. In the opening foray laps, the steering wheel even came off
the rack in Alonso's hands. Mercifully, he was not doing a push
lap. The two-time F1 champion ended up a lowly 15th. Nico
Hulkenberg brought up the rear in his Stake, almost two seconds
adrift.
