#BahrainGP FP2 Report: @Max33Verstappen pips @LandoNorris to P1. #F1

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ended the day as he started it, on top of the time-sheets in the evening FP2 session at the Bahrain GP, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who was second and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who rounded out the top three.

In the sole practice session with conditions relative to qualifying and the race, Verstappen’s best effort of a 1:30.847 was 0.547 seconds faster than his earlier FP1 time-topping benchmark he completed in the afternoon.

In the second hour session of the day, the field hit the Bahrain International Circuit quickly, with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi setting the first benchmark with a 1:32.492 on the C2 white-branded harder compounds.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ferrari pairing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, rapidly shuffled Giovinazzi down the time-sheets with their initial stints on the C3 medium rubber, before Mercedes’ Hamilton claimed P1 with a 1:31.674 – also on the mediums.

But the reigning World Champion’s first hot lap was invalidated due to exceeding track limits on the wide right-hand turn four, which sport’s governing body, the FIA, had not been strictly policing in the afternoon FP1 session, and that promoted Verstappen’s opening benchmark on the mediums – a 1:31.842 to top spot.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas then claimed P1 with a 1:31.503 before team-mate Hamilton’s second stint on the mediums pulled the Briton clear with a 1:31.261 – either side of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen spinning off and damaging his C41 racer.

The Finn lost the rear of his car as he got on the throttle at the exit of the turn two left-hander and he half-spun through the third corner right kink and slid sideways into the gravel trap on the outside of the circuit.

Raikkonen hit the wall with both ends of the C41, knocking his front wing off and damaging the rear wing end-plates, but the Finn was able to continue on and travelled slowly back to the pits.

There was a bit of a quiet period after 15 minutes before the field hit the track and emerged on the C4 red-marked softer rubber.

Sainz used the softs to take top spot with a 1:31.127 with 25 minutes into the session before Hamilton reclaimed first place with a 1:31.082 – also using the softs – gaining time in the second sector, but the Briton looked to struggle for tyre life as he reached the final corners.

Just before the halfway point into FP2, McLaren’s Norris, who had a brief off excursion in the early stages at the downhill right-left of turns six and seven, then moved into P1 on the softs, posting a 1:30.942 before Verstappen started his flyer that would put his Red Bull on top of the time-sheets and the session’s best – crucially taking the best sector times in the second and third parts of the lap.

The pack then switched to the traditional long run data gathering in FP2 – although, with a much smaller time window due to the 2021 practice time reduction from 90 minutes to an hour.

Sainz was fourth and in-front of fifth-placed Bottas – who complained that the rear of his F1 W12 racer was “un-driveable” towards the end of his long run stint in the closing stages of the session.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was sixth and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who were seventh and eighth respectively.

The other AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly and Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez completed the top ten.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon was another driver who had his best effort invalidated for running too wide out of the turn four corner, but the Frenchman was able to go quicker and finished the day in 11th place, in-front of Ferrari’s Leclerc who was 12th.

The aforementioned Alfa Romeo of Giovinazzi took 13th and ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who ended the evening session 14th and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who finished 15th and team-mate Raikkonen who took 16th place.

Williams Racing’s George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were 17th and 19th respectively with Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher splitting the pairing in 18th and Nikita Mazepin finishing at the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1064/bahrain/practice-2.html

@RedBullRacing’s @Max33Verstappen tops #BahrainGP FP1 session. #F1

#F1 Gulf Air #BahrainGP and 2021 Season Preview. #Formula1