Ferrari tops Friday practice in Bahrain

Sebastian Vettel headed Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheets at the end of the first day’s running for this weekend’s Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Ferrari pair held a more than half a second advantage over Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton heading Valtteri Bottas at the end of the day’s running.

It was a reversal for both teams from Practice 1 when Leclerc was fastest from Vettel, and Bottas third over Hamilton.

In that instance the Maranello squad held an even greater advantage, with Bottas almost a second off Leclerc and 0.711s slower than second placed Vettel.

Curiously, in Practice 2 Ferrari opted to use a second set of soft compound tyres while performing qualifying simulations on both cars, an approach not followed by Mercedes or Red Bull.

Fifth fastest was Nico Hulkenberg, just a tenth of a second back from Bottas.

It suggests there’s plenty in reserve from Mercedes which is expected to hold a larger advantage over the yellow squad come qualifying.

In the sister Renault, Daniel Ricciardo could manage no better than 15th, a four place drop from the opening practice session where he was 11th, two seconds off the fastest time of the session in both instances.

Sixth fastest in Practice 2 was Max Verstappen, with Red Bull claiming it missed the window to get the best out of its soft compound tyres for its qualifying simulations.

The Dutchman set a best off with a 1:29.725s in sixth while team-mate Pierre Gasly was only 12th, three quarters of a second further back.

That was a drop in comparison to his opening session performance which saw the Frenchman sixth, just over a tenth slower than his team-mate.

The early running in Practice 2 had been done on the yellow-walled medium compound tyre, and saw Bottas marginally fastest before the leading figures switched their attentions to qualifying simulations.

While Hamilton recorded his 1:29.449s on the first time of asking, Bottas aborted his first attempt and set his best time of Practice 2 on his second lap after being impeded by both Ferraris.

Having also set initial times, Vettel and Leclerc emerged for a second run on soft rubber, with the German improving by a tenth on his previous best to move to 1:28.846s.

Leclerc lapped less than half a tenth slower, with just 0.035s splitting to the Ferraris at the chequered flag.

Late in the session Lando Norris limped his McLaren back to the pits reporting a misfire, while Raikkonen had a spin on his out lap as the session began and set just six timed laps for the session.

The second Alfa Romeo, that of Antonio Giovinazzi, also had limited running as the team beavered away in the garage on both cars.

In the earlier session, a half spin for Lance Stroll saw the Canadian tag the tyre barrier with his Racing Point’s front wing.

There was also a spin for George Russell in a session that was held in much hotter conditions than will be seen in either qualifying or the race, and therefore provided little value to teams who left much of the meaningful race set-up work until Practice 2.

A final practice session on Saturday preludes qualifying (0200 AEDT Sunday) before the race itself gets underway in the early hours of Monday morning (0210 AEDT).

Results: Bahrain Grand Prix, Practice 2

Results: Bahrain Grand Prix, Practice 1