Oscar Piastri topped the second hour by more than a tenth over teammate Lando Norris, the Brit having been fastest in Free Practice 1 earlier in the day.

The opening session was held under the hot afternoon sun, making it largely unrepresentative from a performance standpoint.

The Bahrain circuit had little grip and many drivers found themselves off the race track throughout the hour.

Kimi Antonelli was worst off when his Mercedes struck reliability gremlins after just three laps.

A water pressure issue in his car back into the garage for repairs, though it was repaired in plenty of time for the Italian to return for Free Practice 2 a few hours later.

Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate, George Russell, again proved McLaren’s nearest challenger.

He sat out the morning session as Frederik Vesti stepped into his cars, one of six rookie cameos in Free Practice 1, to inch ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

For a time, Leclerc and Russell swapped fastest times before Norris and then Piastri delivered their hammer blows midway through Free Practice 2.

Isack Hadjar again impressed, the young Frenchman in only his fourth weekend of F1 ending the day inside the top 10.

It was no flash in the pan after being on the fringes in the first hour, though GPS data suggested Racing Bulls had afforded him a higher engine mode than his rivals were running.

Liam Lawson, by contrast, was 12th quickest in Free Practice 2, having been eighth in Free Practice 1.

Lawson’s best, a 1:31.706s came on a set of soft tyres midway through the evening running, consistent with the approach the bulk of the field opted for.

However, Hadjar’s best – a time 0.5s better than Lawson’s – came on the medium rubber.

Drivers had gone to some effort to burn through their soft tyre allocation with the hard compound looking the best race option.

With Sunday’s race expected to be a two-stop[er, teams appear to be saving two sets of hards and a set of mediums for the grand prix itself.

Unlocking the pace of the Alpine was again tricky as Jack Doohan posted the days’ 14th fastest lap.

While short of where the team was at the same venue in pre-season testing, Doohan was at least three places better off than his teammate.

Also behind Doohan was Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard lost time during Free Practice 2 when the steering wheel of his Aston Martin came off in his hands.

He’d reported the display turning off before, but as he approached the final corner at a significantly reduced pace, the wheel came off entirely.

The two-time world champion quickly refitted the wheel before diving into the pits where the Aston Martin mechanics performed a rapid steering system replacement that meant he only lost around half a dozen laps.

In Free Practice 1, there was a near miss for Alex Albon in an incident that cost Williams €7,500.

On a slow lap, Albon turned into Turn 14 as Luke Browning, in action in place of Carlos Sainz during the day’s first 60 minutes of track time, arrived at speed in the other Williams.

The youngster was forced to dive across the painted concrete on the inside of the corner to avoid contact while Albon also turned out of what would have been a mighty crash.

Practice for Sunday’s Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix continues tomorrow, with the final hour starting at 22:30 ahead of Qualifying 02:00 AEST Sunday.