It was a Ferrari show on Friday’s running at the Bahrain Grand Prix with both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel topping Free Practice One and Two respectively as both drivers switched the top two places in both sessions. We look at how the day unfolded beginning with FP1:

 

 

Leclerc leads Ferrari one-two in FP1

 

The Prancing Horse bounced back after it’s off-form running at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix by setting the pace in Free Practice One at the Bahrain International Circuit with Charles Leclerc leading his Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

 

Leclerc posted the benchmark lap-time of a 1:30.354 in the hot Bahrain sun and was 0.263 seconds clear of Vettel.

 

Australian Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas was third fastest in his Silver Arrow and 0.974 seconds off of Vettel while his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was a further 1.2 seconds adrift in fourth place.

 

In the early part of the 90 minute session, it looked as though Mercedes were comfortable as Bottas and Hamilton both ran medium compounds to lap quicker than both Ferrari’s who were on softs initially.

 

Bottas was provisionally leading the time-sheets with a 1:32.340 and it took several attempts before Vettel narrowly jumped him at the top.

 

Ferrari then started to make the charge as Vettel broke into the 1:31’s and Leclerc followed suit with a 1:31.884, just 0.137 off his team-mate.

 

When Mercedes decided to switch to soft tyres, Bottas moved to the top despite a moment at turn ten and posted a 1:31.328, taking the Finn fourth tenths quicker than the Ferrari’s.

 

Hamilton then slotted into second place, just three tenths off his Mercedes team-mate with the Briton running wide at the final corner.

 

But the Scuderia were not done yet as they put on a fresh set of softs for both Leclerc and Vettel as both got into the 1:30’s.

 

Vettel jumped to the top with his best effort of a 1:30.617, before Leclerc displaced the German taking position one to give the prancing horse some confidence heading into the weekend.

 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen enjoyed brief spells at the top in his Honda-powered RB15 but ended the session in fifth place and was less than tenth slower than reigning champion Hamilton.

 

The Dutchman’s team-mate Pierre Gasly endured a difficult beginning describing his RB15 as “super over-steery” on the apex of corners whilst running the harder compound and asking his team to check the engine braking.

 

Gasly then finally put a good lap together and finished the opening session less than two tenths off his team-mate in sixth place.

 

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, who has taken on a new engine for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend after an MGU-K failure in Melbourne, pushed his MCL34 to an impressive seventh fastest and only 0.137 seconds off of Gasly.

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who collided with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi in the closing stages of the session, finished eighth and ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat who was ninth and Kimi Raikkonen who rounded out the top ten in his C38 Alfa.

 

Daniel Ricciardo in the other Renault, received a new chassis for his R.S.19 racer following the opening lap damage he suffered at Albert Park as the Aussie took eleventh place while Kevin Magnussen was 12th in his Haas VF-19.

 

Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon was 13th quickest and in-front of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez who was 14th and McLaren’s Lando Norris who ended FP1 in 15th.

 

The aforementioned Giovinazzi was 16th on the time-sheets and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who was 17th.

 

Both Williams finished at the rear with George Russell suffering damage to his Mercedes-powered FW42 during a trouble-filled practice start and taking a spin.

 

The young Briton was almost seven tenths off of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, who also suffered a spin at turn four and whacked the inside barrier.

 

Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 Free Practice One Classification

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:30.354		20
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:30.617	+0.263s	21
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:31.328	+0.974s	26
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:31.601	+1.247s	23
5	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:31.673	+1.319s	21
6	10	Pierre Gasly	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:31.815	+1.461s	17
7	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:31.952	+1.598s	28
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	1:32.040	+1.686s	17
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:32.339	+1.985s	24
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:32.385	+2.031s	23
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:32.401	+2.047s	19
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:32.602	+2.248s	21
13	23	Alexander Albon	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:32.874	+2.520s	24
14	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:32.885	+2.531s	20
15	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:32.945	+2.591s	29
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:32.949	+2.595s	22
17	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:32.994	+2.640s	22
18	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:33.518	+3.164s	16
19	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:34.188	+3.834s	26
20	88	Robert Kubica	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:34.253	+3.899s	27

 

 

Vettel heads Leclerc as Ferrari finish FP2 quickest

 

It was the other way round in Free Practice Two as Sebastian Vettel lead Charles Leclerc by 0.035 seconds as Ferrari topped the time-sheets once again at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

 

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas held top spot after the early running using Pirelli’s medium rubber, posting a time of a 1:30.124 and narrowly leading Leclerc by 0.079 seconds, with the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton slotting in third place after improving on his second timed-lap.

 

But Ferrari was the first to send it’s drivers out on the red side-walled softer compounds, with Vettel posting the benchmark of a 1:28.942 to grab top spot.

 

Leclerc who was running behind his Ferrari team-mate on track, slotted in behind the German taking second place on the time-sheets putting the Scuderia one-two before the 45 minute mark.

 

The Mercedes pairing of Bottas and Hamilton then opted for performance runs on the softer rubber, with the former backing out of his flyer after a scruffy run through the first couple of corners and running by the two Ferrari’s, who were well out of the Finn’s way into turn two.

 

But Hamilton was able to get his lap in, moving into third place despite losing 0.257 seconds in the first sector, with his second sector 0.449 seconds adrift and then going over the line 0.507 seconds off.

 

Bottas was then able to nail a lap in at his second attempt, as the Finn set a time a tenth slower than his team-mate.

 

Surprisingly Ferrari then sent Vettel and Leclerc out on a fresh set of softs, due to the conditions being more representative to qualifying and the race.

 

Vettel improved his time to a 1:28.846, with Leclerc just 0.035 seconds off both SF90’s established an advantage of 0.603 seconds over third placed Hamilton.

 

This strategy meant Ferrari would do its longer runs later than normal, but Vettel took a spin exiting turn two early in his long run before recovering and continuing on.

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg set an impressive 1:29.669 to complete the top five and ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was sixth quickest and half a tenth down on the German,

 

Haas F1 Team duo Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were seventh and ninth respectively with McLaren’s Lando Norris splitting the pairing in eighth place.

 

With 11 minutes remaining, Norris reported to his team of a misfiring as the youngster limped his Renault-powered MCL34 to the pits.

 

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten and was 1.247 adrift of Vettel’s benchmark and a tenth in-front of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz who took 11th.

 

Pierre Gasly suffered a difficult run, ending the day in 12th on the time-sheets in the second Red Bull as the Frenchman struggled to get the temperatures into the tyres.

 

The other Honda-powered Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon was 13th fastest in the second session and ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez who was 14th and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo down in a low 15th place.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen ran just six laps in FP2 and wound up 16th, 2.242 seconds adrift and suffered a bizarre spin on his out-lap.

 

The Finn came out of the pits and took it slowly at turn two when he spun his C38 on the throttle, then Raikkonen went onto complete the lap and boxed back into the garage where the Hinwil-based outfit focused working on the rear end of the car.

 

Raikkonen’s team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi also had a tough session, although the Italian completed only four laps in the early stages of the 90 minute running.

 

He eventually ran 10 laps in total and finished 18th behind Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.

 

Reigning FIA Formula 2 Champion George Russell was the quickest of the Williams drivers at the rear, with the Briton lapping three seconds off the pace and was a second quicker then Robert Kubica.

 

Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 Free Practice Two Classification

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:28.846		32
2	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:28.881	+0.035s	32
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:29.449	+0.603s	33
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:29.557	+0.711s	36
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	1:29.669	+0.823s	32
6	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:29.725	+0.879s	34
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:30.000	+1.154s	33
8	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:30.017	+1.171s	25
9	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:30.068	+1.222s	34
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:30.093	+1.247s	36
11	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:30.192	+1.346s	33
12	10	Pierre Gasly	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:30.429	+1.583s	31
13	23	Alexander Albon	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:30.458	+1.612s	36
14	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:30.716	+1.870s	32
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:30.848	+2.002s	30
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:31.088	+2.242s	6
17	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:31.129	+2.283s	31
18	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:31.144	+2.298s	10
19	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:31.904	+3.058s	32
20	88	Robert Kubica	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:32.932	+4.086s	37