2020 F1 Bahrain GP : Friday practice 1-2 – Hamilton tops

The Bahrain Grand Prix is the first of two races taking place in Bahrain and will be held at the Sakhir International Circuit, a traditional venue for the event.

Lewis Hamilton made a belated attempt during the second practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, securing the fastest lap time of the day and achieving a perfect record of being the fastest in both practice sessions on Friday. The seven-time champion was 0.347s ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in the evening session, with Valtteri Bottas just 0.018s behind him. However, Verstappen’s teammate Alex Albon had a major crash that interrupted the FP2 session.

Red Bull has informed Albon that they are looking for impressive performances from him in the last three races of 2020 if he wants to keep his seat at the team for the 2021 season.

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko may have been disappointed with Albon’s performance during the session, as he ran wide at Turn 15 and continued to accelerate, causing his RB16 car to slide on the run-off and eventually collide with the wall to the left.

As a result of the collision, the front and rear wing, as well as the right-side wheels of Albon’s car, were torn off, which meant that the Red Bull mechanics had a significant repair job ahead of them. The incident also likely caused Albon to feel under considerable pressure, which could have made for a difficult night. However, fortunately, he emerged from the crash seemingly unharmed.

Following a red flag stoppage caused by Albon’s crash, and another one when a dog entered the track, the practice session resumed with 27 minutes left of the 90-minute duration. Many drivers were in a hurry to finish their interrupted qualifying simulations. During the session, all drivers were mandated to complete six timed laps on Pirelli’s prototype tires for the upcoming season.

During his first flying lap, Hamilton encountered traffic, and it only earned him a sixth position. However, he managed to improve his performance during his second attempt with 15 minutes remaining, allowing him to establish a significant lead over Verstappen’s Red Bull.

It is essential to mention that Verstappen was unable to improve on his earlier lap time of 1m 29.318s, which he had set using the medium compound tires. Despite using the softer tires later in the session, his best lap time was only 0.082s slower than his earlier lap, indicating that the time difference between the two types of tires was minimal. Moreover, many drivers complained that the softer tires wore out quickly during the session.

Bottas secured the third position, with Sergio Perez’s Racing Point and Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault following in fourth and fifth, respectively. Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri finished sixth. Lando Norris took seventh place, which is significant as he earned his first F1 points at this track in 2019 while driving for McLaren. Lance Stroll of Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat of AlphaTauri took eighth and ninth place, respectively. Albon managed to secure the tenth position before his crash, with his and Kvyat’s fastest times set using the medium compound tires, similar to Verstappen’s performance.

Esteban Ocon of Renault finished 11th, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari in 12th position. Carlos Sainz of McLaren finished 13th, having used medium compound tires, which is ironic given that he has had notoriously bad luck at this track and has never scored a point here.

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished 14th, behind his teammate Vettel, following a small error on his fastest lap. He finished ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. Magnussen, who is leaving the team, also set his fastest lap time using the medium compound tires.

Kimi Raikkonen returned to his Alfa Romeo after giving it to Robert Kubica during the morning practice session. He set the 17th fastest time using the medium compound tires. Nicholas Latifi’s Williams followed in 18th place, with Romain Grosjean’s Haas taking the 19th position. Grosjean referred to his car as “undriveable” during the session. George Russell’s Williams rounded out the top 20. He also missed the FP1 session to give Roy Nissany another opportunity to run in F1 practice.

Following the most indicative session of the weekend thus far, Mercedes has emerged as the leader. However, teams have to decipher the tire situation tonight, and with Red Bull appearing to be in contention, the qualifying round promises to be an exciting one to watch.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2020 – Results from Free Practice 1.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2020 – Results from Free Practice 1.

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