#F1 #BahrainGP FP2 Report: @LewisHamilton heads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two.

Hamilton Bahrain GP FP2 – Sir Lewis Hamilton lead from team-mate George Russell in a Mercedes one-two in the FP2 session at the Bahrain GP as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top three. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen was sixth.

In a session that is representative to conditions for both tomorrow’s qualifying and Saturday’s season-opening race, Hamilton posted the time-topping benchmark of a 1:30.374 on the Pirelli C3 red side-walled compounds and was 0.206 seconds clear of second-placed team-mate Russell whilst Alonso was a further 0.286 seconds adrift in third.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz followed in fourth and ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who claimed fifth with the fastest middle sector of the session, which ensured Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen to end FP2 in sixth and just 0.447 seconds off Hamilton’s best effort.

The pack was split on their initial stints between the medium and softer compounds and the traditional frontrunners opted for red-marked C3 tyres to begin their sessions.

Sainz was the first to get the times into the 1:31 bracket but was quickly beaten by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who hit a 1:31.629 as the timing board lit up. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc then set a 1:31.578 to take the head of the order, but this was disposed of by Hamilton’s 1:30.751. Alonso then split the top two runners posting a 1:31.035.

Verstappen’s initial effort was half-a-second off Hamilton’s benchmark and although the Dutchman improved on the same set of rubber, the Red Bull driver could not make any in-roads into the Briton’s time. Verstappen’s best, a 1:30.851, was not even enough to beat Hamilton’s first soft-tyre stint.

These soft tyre runs rounded out the opening 30 minutes as the second half of the hour-long session was devoted to long race data run gathering, a crucial component of the team’s preparation given that Free Practice 3 will not be a representative session.

The classification was set with no other further improvements, and Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg fired his VF-24 entry into seventh place and 0.007 seconds narrowly clear of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who rounded out the top ten.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant were 11^th and 13^th respectively as FP1 time-topper Daniel Ricciardo split the pairing in 12^th for RB.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was 14^th and ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda who took 15^th.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ended the session 16^th and 18^th respectively as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas placed 17^th and 19^th whilst McLaren’s Norris brought up the rear after making an error on his single flying lap during his qualifying simulation run.

You can see the full Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1229/bahrain/practice-2.html

#F1 #BahrainGP FP1: @danielricciardo pips @LandoNorris by 0.032s.

#F1 Gulf Air #BahrainGP and 2024 Season Preview. #Formula1 #F1sBack