Full results and report: Carlos Sainz P4 and Charles Leclerc P9 in FP2 at Sakhir | 2024 Bahrain GP. Full results and report from the second practice session for the Bahrain GP.

For a moment, Toto Wolff must have closed his eyes, thinking he was still in a season between 2014 and 2021, the ones at Brackley that brought consecutive World Championships. Mercedes dominated the second free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, at least in terms of the outright lap. In track conditions similar to what the drivers will encounter in qualifying and the race, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made the difference with Soft tires, which are C3 in Sakhir, signing an unexpected 1-2.

1’30″374 is the best time set by Lewis Hamilton, placing him ahead of everyone, 206 milliseconds faster than the first pursuer, George Russell. The seven-time champion made few changes to his W15, a sign of a setup already quite close to his preferences.

Russell, on the other hand, worked a lot on the car’s ride height, managing to improve with the second set of C3 tires used in the first half-hour. The first chaser of the black-silver Arrows is Fernando Alonso with the Aston Martin AMR24, 80 milliseconds behind Russell.

Behind the top three is the first Ferrari, driven by Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver was more skillful and fortunate than Charles Leclerc – ninth, 7 tenths behind Hamilton – better exploiting the Soft tires. Leclerc, on the other hand, made an error with the first set of C3, then was slowed in Turn 1 by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin (eighth at the end of the session).

Polar opposites at McLaren, with Oscar Piastri fifth and Lando Norris last, also for not using the Softs well. Max Verstappen is sixth, and the news is not seeing him ahead of everyone after last season’s dominance.

The Ferrari engine gave the first important signals thanks to the seventh time of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. Speaking of Stroll and Leclerc, respectively eighth and ninth, Sergio Perez completes the Top 10 with the second Red Bull RB20, just 3 tenths behind Verstappen in the outright lap.

Good signs from Williams with Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant 11th and 13th, interspersed with the first Racing Bulls, that of Daniel Ricciardo. The VCARB 01s did less well than initial expectations in the outright lap, but the pace is not so bad.

Kevin Magnussen brought the second Haas ahead of the second Racing Bulls, that of Yuki Tsunoda, and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. The French team continues to struggle even in low temperatures, as the black-blue single-seaters are in 16th and 18th place.

The Sauber C44s do not shine, with Valtteri Bottas and GuanYu Zhou in 17th and 19th, ahead of the last-placed Lando Norris.

If Verstappen did not put his name at the top of the timesheets in terms of the outright lap, he did so in the race pace simulation with Soft tires.

Max was the fastest and most consistent, with a few tenths advantage over rivals – namely Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton – but a constant margin. On Softs, the RB20 number 1 still seemed to be the car to beat, although the margin seen today is much narrower than what we saw in 2023.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes showed good stints with the Softs, but both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were forced to do a cooling lap in the middle of their stints. It is clear that both have managed to improve tire management compared to last year, but it will take time to catch up with Red Bull.

Ferrari showed to be less effective with Soft tires (C3), but it could have race pace on hard tires (C1) if it confirms the good things seen in the long runs during testing. Note how, almost certainly, the Medium tires have been ruled out from the race choices, as happened last year.

Friday, as we know, is always to be taken with caution. But, at least for today, no one has shown they can kill the championship from the start, as happened 12 months ago. But tomorrow is another day, and it will still take patience to understand more about the real values on the track.