Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel has seen off the challenge from teammate Charles Leclerc to end Friday practice on top as Ferrari’s pace returns in Bahrain.
Having struggled for answers to its apparent pace drop at the Formula 1 opener in Australia, Ferrari dominated the opening day in Bahrain with a 1-2 in FP1 followed by the same result but in the opposite order in the evening session under the floodlights.
Both Ferrari drivers produced two qualifying simulation runs in FP2, along with long in the second half of the session, with Vettel taking top spot with a 1m 28.846s despite running wide on the exit at the final turn on his best lap.
His effort edged out Leclerc by just 0.035s, but Sebastian Vettel couldn’t claim a flawless session as a spin at Turn 2 on during a long run to see his race simulation truncated.
Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottascouldn’t get within half a second of Vettel’s top effort, having only completed one qualifying simulation, with the reigning F1 world champion taking third place 0.603s off Vettel and one-tenth ahead of his Finnish teammate.
Nico Hulkenberg broke into the top five for Renault with an impressive qualifying simulation lap of 1m 29.669s to jump ahead of the Red Bull Honda of Max Verstappen.
Kevin Magnussen continued his promising pace for Haas in seventh place in front of Lando Norris with the McLaren driver suffering an engine issue in the closing 15 minutes of FP2.
Romain Grosjean (Haas) and Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso Honda) rounded out the top 10 ahead of Carlos Sainzwho has a new power unit on his McLaren following the MGU-K failure he suffered in Australia.
Formula 1 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Results
1. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari 1m28.846s
2. Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari + 0.035s
3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.603s
4. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.711s
5. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault F1 Team + 0.823s
6. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 0.879s
7. Kevin Magnussen DEN Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.154s
8. Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 1.171s
9. Romain Grosjean FRA Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.222s
10. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.247s
11. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren F1 Team + 1.346s
12. Pierre Gasly FRA Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 1.583s
13. Alexander Albon THA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.612s
14. Sergio Perez MEX SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 1.870s
15. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Renault F1 Team + 2.002s
16. Kimi Raikkonen ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.242s
17. Lance Stroll CAN SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 2.283s
18. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.298s
19. George Russell GBR ROKiT Williams Racing + 3.058s
20. Robert Kubica POL ROKiT Williams Racing + 4.086s
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