Hamilton tops 2nd practice for Bahrain GP
2020 F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton turned the fastest lap of 1m28.971s in his #44 Mercedes in the 2nd practice session for the Bahrain GP. He was 0.347s faster than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Valtteri Bottas was 3rd quick in the #77 Mercedes just behind Verstappen and 0.365s behind his teammate.
Sergio Perez was 4th quick 0.432s back in his #11 Racing Point while Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top-5 in his #3 Renault.
The session was red-flagged when Alex Albon crashed his Red Bull heavily while setting the 9th quick time. Coming through the final corner he ran slightly wide onto the dust, lost control and crashed heavily into the barriers. The entire right side of the RB16 was destroyed.
This is going to be a big rebuild for the Red Bull crew overnight, and it remains to be seen if he will suffer any grid penalties as a result. As far as confidence goes – well this is hardly ideal. Albon will need to forget this one quickly and bounce straight back tomorrow.
Alex is safely out of the car and is being checked over at the medical centre as a precaution #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 https://t.co/5p960kIDpg
— Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 27, 2020
Much will depend on what happens tomorrow and with Hamilton today setting his lap so much later than his rivals, with the track having evolved, we still don’t know the true pace difference between Red Bull and Mercedes.
Hamilton didn’t run any sets of the medium or hard compound in this session, though. It could be a key tactic by Mercedes here, to ensure their man is as fully prepared for qualifying as he can be.
Quotes
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Lewis Hamilton (1st, 1:28.971): “It felt great to get back out on the track, I just love driving this car. Today felt a bit more like a test day though as we didn’t get to do a lot of qualifying style laps, instead it was a lot of discovery on next year’s tires. This track works the tires completely differently compared to the last race in Turkey, it’s a night and day difference. Instead of doing a fast outlap to get temperatures into the tires, you’re trying to go slow on the outlap to not put too much temperatures into them and keep them from overheating. I wasn’t particularly happy with the balance of the car, but everyone is probably in a similar position as the track was quite slippery and dusty. We definitely got some work overnight to try and improve ahead of tomorrow.”
Valtteri Bottas (3rd, 1:29.336): “Our day was overall ok, looking at our performance and the general feeling in the car. It was more challenging in the first session and I expect it’ll be the same tomorrow because the track temperatures are higher at that time and there’s more wind as well. Both sessions were slightly messy with traffic and a few mistakes here and there, so there’s certainly more to come. I’m also not fully happy with the balance yet, we’ve got some work to do there. It’s tricky to say where we are competitively as we ran a different program to everyone else, focusing on the new Pirelli tires. I think Red Bull are certainly up there, they looked pretty good in FP2. The main challenge in Bahrain is always overheating of the tires, something we haven’t had for a few races, so we need to adapt our different driving style accordingly. So lots of things to learn for tomorrow from today.”
Andrew Shovlin: “We had decided to focus more on the 2021 tire evaluation than the usual race weekend preparation today. We’ve not yet had time to go through the data, but we’ve managed to do what we had planned, so hopefully that will give us some useful learning ahead of next season. In contrast, we’re a bit behind compared to where we’d normally like to be regarding the race on Sunday, in part because we’ve not spent as long as normal tuning the car balance, but also because we’ve not done as extensive a long run program as is normal. We’ve definitely got more to come both on single lap and on the long run as we are not in a great place with the car balance yet, but we’ve still got a bit of track time tomorrow to work on that.”
Scuderia Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel (12th, 1:30.110): “Today in the first session the sun was still up while in the second one it was night time, however, maybe because of the time of year, there was definitely less difference between the sessions compared to the previous years. I think that the Sakhir track does not suit us as well as it has done in the past, but we still have a little bit to improve and work on, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. Looking ahead to Sunday, we know the track is tough on tires and so it is difficult to make them last, but it will be the same for everybody. It is yet not clear which tires will work best, and therefore how many stops we will need. But first we must focus on quali and then we will see for the race. While it’s true the point are only given out at the end of the race, the higher up the grid you start, the better your chances, as you have more options in terms of strategy and tire management.”
Charles Leclerc (14th, 1:30.407): “It’s been a difficult first day. I was expecting to do a bit better because traditionally this is has been very strong track for the team in the past few years, but today, we seemed to struggle quite a bit more. But we are usually pretty good at fixing the issues overnight, so hopefully we’ll come back stronger tomorrow. I think it’s pretty clear what we need to do to improve. It’s just the balance really, as through the corners it’s very tricky and it’s quite difficult to manage the car and I made a few mistakes. The times are all extremely close, so any gains we make can result in a big difference.”
Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen (2nd, 1:29.318): “I had some test items on the car in FP1 and we didn’t complete quite as many laps as we wanted but the second practice was better. You never have the perfect balance and there are still quite a few things to understand, but in general it has been a positive Friday. Mercedes are quick but that is no surprise and from our side we will just focus on getting the best out of our car and in the race as it can be aggressive on tires around here. We tried some of the 2021 tires in both sessions but it is difficult to know which compounds we were running. We were a bit all over the place in terms of grip and balance but that is something Pirelli can look at and it is the point of doing these tests.”
Alexander Albon (10th, 1:30.014): “Straight away from FP1 the car was feeling pretty good and then in FP2 we tried a couple of things that didn’t quite work out. Later in the session I was a bit surprised by the lack of grip on track and the accident was at quite an awkward angle but I’m okay and it’s just one of those things but I’m sorry to the guys in the garage. Throughout the year we’ve suffered with the rear tires but strangely here it seems to be the fronts so we’ll have to look at that and see how to make them last longer. We also sampled the prototype tires and swapped between different compounds but they didn’t have a lot of grip so we’ll see how they develop and hopefully they improve.”
Renault Sport Formula One Team
Daniel Ricciardo (5th, 1:29.462): “It’s really nice to be driving in warm conditions, so I’m very happy. Our afternoon session wasn’t anything spectacular but, in the evening, we made some adjustments, and we’re in a much better place, so I’d say we’re there or thereabouts. It will be tight tomorrow in qualifying. The tires are going to get pretty chewed up around here, so a two-stop is likely and that would be the first one in the dry we’ve seen in a while. We did some race simulations in Free Practice 2 and we’re looking fairly solid.”
Esteban Ocon (11th, 1:30.085): “It’s been a good, first day overall in Bahrain. We had a busy plan for the day with some prototype tire running in preparation for next year, so it was a different kind of practice day and different conditions to normal here with a bit of rain this morning. We got into our normal program towards the afternoon, but that was interrupted a bit with the red flags. Our program was delayed and disrupted but, other than that, we look quick and that’s a good sign for tomorrow. Our high fuel runs also looked decent and I think we’re well prepared for the rest of the weekend.”
Ciaron Pilbeam, Chief Race Engineer: “It was unusually cool in Bahrain, especially for Free Practice 1, which, with the time of day, often takes place under scorching conditions. But, with the weather front overnight, which brought some rain, the conditions throughout the day remained cool; similar to what we normally experience in the evening in Sakhir. Both sessions were more busy than usual with the mandatory 2021 tire testing, and FP2 was interrupted by a couple of red flags, but we improved throughout the day and by Free Practice 2 both drivers felt more comfortable in the car on both low and high fuel runs. As normal, there’s more to come, but we’re pleased with today’s practice and we look forward to the remainder of the weekend.”
Haas F1 Team
Kevin Magnussen (16th, 1:30.849): “It wasn’t quite wet to start the day, but it was raining – certainly a little bit unusual around here. Let’s see if we get some wet weather, that would be interesting, but I don’t think there’s a good chance of it happening. Because we’ve been here many times, we’re maybe not experimenting as much as we have been on some of the other recent tracks because they were new. We’ve focused a little more on the balance of the car and general set-up work. There’s maybe a little less grip than last year but overall, I think things have been more-or-less as we expected coming here.”
Romain Grosjean (19th, 1:31.119): “I was a bit surprised this morning when I woke up and saw the rain. The positive is the track wasn’t too hot in FP1 and therefore we could work a bit closer to what the race will be like. This track is cool though. It’s tough on tires, there’s quite a bit of degradation – you really have to manage them. It also produces some good racing. This track is one of the easiest of the year to overtake at, so on that aspect it’s always cool racing. We’ve really been working on getting the car set up for the race.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: “It wasn’t a bad day for us – we did most of our runs and tested the new prototype tires to see what’s coming next year. We got a little bit of feeling on that one. In FP2, well the red flags came out and we didn’t get to do anything on the soft tires – we couldn’t get a good lap in. Every weekend is more or less the same now. Like always, we’re just trying to get the best out of what we’ve got. We’ll try to get at least one car into Q2 tomorrow.”
McLaren F1 Team
Lando Norris (7th, 1:29.841): “Tricky day, but at the same time one where I think we gathered a lot of data and got a good understanding of the car. We got through all the planning and the running that we wanted to. It wasn’t the easiest or the most straightforward day, but we’ve got good info, so it’s down to tonight and FP3 to put it all together and make some improvements going into qualifying.”
Carlos Sainz (13th, 1:30.271): “We expect another tight battle again this weekend with our main competitors, but it’s impossible to say who has the edge from today’s running. In terms of degradation, it’s a bit of a special weekend because I don’t think anyone’s going to be capable of doing a one-stop on Sunday, so we are up for interesting strategies during the race. Today was a good Friday in general, with lots of testing and a good amount of laps in both sessions. All three compounds are working well, and all three could be used in the race. I had to abort my flying lap on the Soft compound due to the red flag, but it was coming together nicely and I think we have a decent baseline to fine-tune tomorrow.”
Andrea Stella, Racing Director: “Our double-header in Bahrain began with a very busy Friday. The job list for the first day of practice contained a lot of entries: we had aerodynamic test items, tires for 2021, plus the usual set-up optimization and investigation of the tires for the race. This season, the compounds are one step softer than last year, which creates some interesting implications for race strategy. We’re happy that we could complete our program, despite the red flag interruptions in FP2. We have a lot of information to study overnight. There’s some pretty interesting variables and we need to put it all together to be ready for qualifying and the race, where we’ll have to be at our best to compete for good points.”
Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Perez (4th, 1:29.403): “I’m happy with the pace today: it’s an encouraging start, but it’s very clear that the margins are extremely tight – one or two tenths could make a big difference on Saturday. We’ll see how that plays out tomorrow, but I think the most important factor this weekend will be the tire management. That could make the difference in the really tight battle we’re in because it’s close between ourselves and our rivals. The red flag affected everyone’s long runs in FP2, but we were still able to learn a lot about the tires. We will go away tonight and look into how we can improve further for tomorrow in qualifying and how the tire wear can influence strategy in the race.”
Lance Stroll (8th, 1:29.871): “I think today was a good start to the weekend and I’m happy with how the car felt out there. We looked on the pace pretty quickly in FP1 and we were able to improve in the more representative FP2 in the night-time conditions. The running was a bit disrupted today, due to the red flag and the 2021 tire program, but we were still able to get a good day’s work done. That’s given us a few things to think about and review tonight to see if we can find further improvements before qualifying tomorrow. As expected, today’s running has shown that managing the tire wear is going to be an important element of the race strategy, so that could make for an exciting race on Sunday.”
Alfa Romeo Racing
Antonio Giovinazzi (15th, 1:30.627): “It’s been a straightforward Friday, like you always want, and we were able to do everything we had planned. Of course there is always a margin for improvement, but that’s what we are going to do tonight when we look at the data and try to make the right set-up changes for tomorrow. The objective is to make it to Q2: it’s going to be a close fight and we’ll need to put the perfect lap together to be ahead of our closest rivals.”
Kimi Raikkonen (17th, 1:30.928): “Of course I only had one session today, but we still had the time to do a good job. The car felt ok in FP2, which is effectively the most representative session ahead of qualifying, but as always there will be a lot to improve overnight. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow, it will be close.”
Robert Kubica: “It’s been quite a while since the last time I was in the car, as in the meantime I have been driving in DTM, so it was crucial to get the feeling for the car and the confidence straight away. It went well, I got back in the way of driving these cars quickly and I felt quite at ease. It was a good session overall, we completed the full program, so we are happy with how the day went. It’s nice to be back in the car and work with the team: I had some clear indications for the engineers and there was a lot of information I could give the team. Hopefully we can make the most of the weekend like we did in some of the last few races and take the opportunities we can get.”
Red Bull AlphaTauri Honda
Pierre Gasly (6th, 1:29.551): “It’s nice to be back in a bit more normal conditions compared to Istanbul two weeks ago. We had a positive Friday, probably one of our strongest this season and the car felt good straight away since FP1. I think pace-wise we look pretty competitive, but there are still some things we can improve on in terms of car balance to extract even more from the package we have. It looks promising, so we’ll try to find these extra tenths for Qualifying tomorrow.”
Daniil Kvyat (9th, 1:29.900): “It was an interesting day, in FP1 I wasn’t too happy with the car balance, but we improved quite well for FP2. I think we understood the direction we needed to take, so it was a positive result. We have a lot of good data for tomorrow to analyse so we can hopefully make another step and improve further. I had the red flag come out during my Soft compound run which was a bit of a shame, nevertheless, the pace felt quite good today. This track is high with tire degradation, so we will have to understand how to cope with it better than the others.”
Jonathan Eddolls, Chief Race Engineer: “Even though we’re close to the end of the season, it didn’t mean there wasn’t anything for us to test today. We came here with some aerodynamic parts that we needed to test and understand, and each team was given two additional sets of 2021 tires to evaluate for Pirelli. Both free practices were quite busy, as the aim was to have the car on the track almost all of the time. FP1 was more about understanding the 2021 tires over long runs, and also to sign off and understand some of the new aerodynamic components, so there was less setup work carried out in that session. We reviewed the data and made some changes to the car, and with the track being rear limited, along with an aggressive tire choice, rear degradation was high, so we needed to address that going into FP2. We started FP2 with a short-run compare with the 2020 vs 2021 tire, then went on with our normal program. It’s fair to say the changes we made have improved the car and the performance is looking good, in line with our expectations. With the degradation we have, the long run and the race is going to be tricky, so we need to understand what we need to do to reduce it for the race – that’s going to be the focus tonight.”
Williams Racing
Nicholas Latifi (18th, 1:30.973): “It is nice to be back driving in some warm weather, but it was a tricky day. This track is notoriously difficult on the tires, with very high degradation. FP1 isn’t the most representative session, the ones that matter are in the evening time, so FP2 was a bit more important. We got extra running with the new 2021 tires which was good to get a feel on them. We have some things to sort out, we need to fine tune the balance on the low fuel, and high fuel was very disruptive with the red flags. It is clearly going to be difficult to manage those tires. The tire degradation and race management has been my stronger suit this year and allowed me to win the feature race in F2 here last year. Hopefully that plays to our strengths, but we still have a lot to improve before we can be confident about that.”
George Russell (20th, 1:31.636): “It was nice to get back out on track today under the lights as it is always pretty spectacular, so I enjoyed it. It hurt us slightly missing FP1, as it puts you on the back foot and then with those red flags from Alex’s crash and the appearance from the dog, it didn’t make it the easiest session. It affected my low fuel run on the soft tire as I was on the out-lap both times the session got red flagged. However, we have been in this position before and we know what to do. It will be a long evening into the early hours of tomorrow, and then wake up tomorrow and go and have some fun. Let’s see what we can do.”
Roy Nissany: “It was a very positive session once again, and a challenging one in comparison to my last FP1 outing at Monza. We have stepped up in terms of development and it feels great as always to be working with the team, to be in the car and a part of the progress that Williams is making. It is an incredible experience putting down the results, and I am looking forward to more action at the test in Abu Dhabi.”
Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: “Although there was some overnight and morning rain, we were able to complete the programs as intended. Roy did an excellent job and completed all of his test items, providing some very useful feedback, including on the new 2021 Pirelli tires. FP2 was fully dry but interrupted by several red flags, which disrupted our low fuel running and delayed the high fuel runs. Nonetheless, we were able to gather some useful tire data, which will help guide the car set-ups for the rest of this weekend and also into next year. The weather tomorrow looks similar to today and so FP3 may be more valuable than it traditionally is at the events where we race in the evenings. We will wait and see how hot the track is tomorrow afternoon before finalizing the FP3 run plan. We have got a lot of work to get through tonight, but we are confident that we can improve the performance of the car as a result and can produce useful test programs to suit whatever weather conditions that we encounter.”
Practice 2 Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:28.971 | 0.000s | 28 |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:29.318 | +0.347s | 34 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:29.336 | +0.365s | 30 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 1:29.403 | +0.432s | 32 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:29.462 | +0.491s | 27 |
| 6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:29.551 | +0.580s | 35 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 1:29.841 | +0.870s | 30 |
| 8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point BAT Mercedes | 1:29.871 | +0.900s | 32 |
| 9 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:29.900 | +0.929s | 34 |
| 10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:30.014 | +1.043s | 17 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1:30.085 | +1.114s | 30 |
| 12 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:30.110 | +1.139s | 35 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren Renault | 1:30.271 | +1.300s | 33 |
| 14 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:30.407 | +1.436s | 30 |
| 15 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:30.627 | +1.656s | 33 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:30.849 | +1.878s | 27 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:30.928 | +1.957s | 34 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:30.973 | +2.002s | 32 |
| 19 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:31.119 | +2.148s | 28 |
| 20 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 1:31.636 | +2.665s | 29 |