McLaren demonstrates why they are the towering favorites for this weekend. The rest of the field has to concede more than half a second to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Max Verstappen can’t get past P7, trailing behind Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls.
As the sun slowly sets in the scorching heat of Bahrain, the big names once again take their place behind the wheel. This is because drivers like Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and Charles Leclerc had given up their seats to rookies in the first free practice. Verstappen immediately starts on the soft tire, but quickly complains about the erratic behavior of the RB21.
Then there’s a tense moment for Alonso as the steering wheel comes loose from his Aston Martin. He manages to secure it and rushes back to the pit lane. Interestingly, Lewis Hamilton, on the medium tire, records the fastest time. As it gets really dark and the temperature drops, the track also becomes faster. One after another, drivers set the fastest time. But then the McLaren drivers take a moment to really get into their stride and leave the rest of the field more than half a second behind.
This session in Bahrain is particularly important because, like the qualification and (partly) the race, it is run in the dark. In the final phase of the training, the drivers perform the usual long runs with a lot of fuel on board to simulate tire wear in preparation for the race.
Oscar Piastri ends the session as the fastest, followed by Lando Norris and George Russell. As often happens on Fridays, Red Bull lacks speed. Verstappen can’t get past P7 and even has to tolerate Isack Hadjar ahead of him. Yuki Tsunoda remains stuck at P18, not significantly better than what we saw from Liam Lawson during the first races this year.
