Pierre Gasly was fastest in FP1 for AlphaTauri but Verstappen set the quickest time of the day – under the floodlights in FP2 – at 1m31.936s.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the chase, just 0.087s slower, ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ George Russell. His teammate Lewis Hamilton could only manage ninth, complaining of porpoising and brake issues.
Bahrain Grand Prix FP1 results: Gasly fastest from Leclerc
Cla | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pierre Gasly | 23 | 1'34.193 | 206.843 | |||
2 | Charles Leclerc | 22 | 1'34.557 | 0.364 | 0.364 | 206.047 | |
3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 23 | 1'34.611 | 0.418 | 0.054 | 205.929 | |
4 | George Russell | 23 | 1'34.629 | 0.436 | 0.018 | 205.890 | |
5 | Max Verstappen | 22 | 1'34.742 | 0.549 | 0.113 | 205.644 | |
6 | Lance Stroll | 22 | 1'34.814 | 0.621 | 0.072 | 205.488 | |
7 | Lewis Hamilton | 17 | 1'34.943 | 0.750 | 0.129 | 205.209 | |
8 | Fernando Alonso | 14 | 1'35.000 | 0.807 | 0.057 | 205.086 | |
9 | Yuki Tsunoda | 20 | 1'35.028 | 0.835 | 0.028 | 205.025 | |
10 | Sergio Perez | 23 | 1'35.050 | 0.857 | 0.022 | 204.978 | |
11 | Guanyu Zhou | 20 | 1'35.053 | 0.860 | 0.003 | 204.971 | |
12 | Esteban Ocon | 15 | 1'35.151 | 0.958 | 0.098 | 204.760 | |
13 | Nicholas Latifi | 15 | 1'35.644 | 1.451 | 0.493 | 203.705 | |
14 | Nico Hulkenberg | 23 | 1'35.815 | 1.622 | 0.171 | 203.341 | |
15 | Alex Albon | 17 | 1'35.923 | 1.730 | 0.108 | 203.112 | |
16 | Lando Norris | 22 | 1'36.304 | 2.111 | 0.381 | 202.309 | |
17 | Daniel Ricciardo | 20 | 1'36.402 | 2.209 | 0.098 | 202.103 | |
18 | Mick Schumacher | 23 | 1'36.536 | 2.343 | 0.134 | 201.823 | |
19 | Kevin Magnussen | 21 | 1'36.804 | 2.611 | 0.268 | 201.264 | |
20 | Valtteri Bottas | 2 | |||||
View full results |
What happened in Bahrain GP Free Practice 1?
First practice took place in daytime, meaning it was not fully representative of either qualifying or the race, both of which will occur in cooler conditions in the evening.
The McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo set the early pace on, as the new-look 2022 cars were put through their paces in anger in an official F1 session for the first time.
A red flag was soon required to clean up the debris from Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, whose right sidepod came apart soon after he opened the DRS on the start/finish straight – showering the following Nico Hulkenberg’s Aston Martin with carbonfibre pieces.
The session resumed with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso going fastest on soft tyres, before Max Verstappen beat that by 0.464s using mediums – lapping in 1m34.783s and then 1m34.742s.
As more teams gravitated to running softs, George Russell’s Mercedes – which earlier lost a chunk of bodywork – went to the top on 1m34.629s, just as Charles Leclerc spun his Ferrari.
With 13 minutes to go, Gasly took P1 for AlphaTauri on 1m34.193s, followed by the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – who were both running mediums to Gasly’s softs.
Verstappen slipped back to fifth, but didn’t run softs at all like the Ferraris, but was ahead of those that did: Lance Stroll (Aston), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri). Sergio Perez’s Red Bull rounded out the top 10 with a time also set on mediums.
Bahrain Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc
Cla | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | 20 | 1'31.936 | 211.921 | |||
2 | Charles Leclerc | 20 | 1'32.023 | 0.087 | 0.087 | 211.720 | |
3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 22 | 1'32.520 | 0.584 | 0.497 | 210.583 | |
4 | George Russell | 25 | 1'32.529 | 0.593 | 0.009 | 210.563 | |
5 | Fernando Alonso | 24 | 1'32.877 | 0.941 | 0.348 | 209.774 | |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | 30 | 1'32.951 | 1.015 | 0.074 | 209.607 | |
7 | Sergio Perez | 20 | 1'32.958 | 1.022 | 0.007 | 209.591 | |
8 | Mick Schumacher | 24 | 1'33.085 | 1.149 | 0.127 | 209.305 | |
9 | Lewis Hamilton | 23 | 1'33.144 | 1.208 | 0.059 | 209.172 | |
10 | Kevin Magnussen | 23 | 1'33.183 | 1.247 | 0.039 | 209.085 | |
11 | Lando Norris | 27 | 1'33.280 | 1.344 | 0.097 | 208.867 | |
12 | Esteban Ocon | 25 | 1'33.360 | 1.424 | 0.080 | 208.688 | |
13 | Pierre Gasly | 24 | 1'33.621 | 1.685 | 0.261 | 208.107 | |
14 | Yuki Tsunoda | 26 | 1'33.789 | 1.853 | 0.168 | 207.734 | |
15 | Guanyu Zhou | 27 | 1'33.953 | 2.017 | 0.164 | 207.371 | |
16 | Lance Stroll | 25 | 1'33.958 | 2.022 | 0.005 | 207.360 | |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | 28 | 1'34.061 | 2.125 | 0.103 | 207.133 | |
18 | Daniel Ricciardo | 12 | 1'34.166 | 2.230 | 0.105 | 206.902 | |
19 | Nicholas Latifi | 28 | 1'34.486 | 2.550 | 0.320 | 206.201 | |
20 | Alex Albon | 22 | 1'34.735 | 2.799 | 0.249 | 205.659 | |
View full results |
What happened in Bahrain GP Free Practice 2?
From the start of FP2 under the floodlights, Leclerc set the benchmark at 1m33.121s – already a second faster than Gasly’s FP1 time – on mediums. He led an early Ferrari 1-2 from Sainz, with Alonso third ahead of Alpine teammate Ocon.
Verstappen took P2 on his first flyer on mediums, 0.5s off Leclerc, while Hamilton took fifth but complained of porpoising on the straights. Valtteri Bottas jumped to P4 for Alfa Romeo, bouncing back from a troubled first session due to engine issues, ahead of a late-running Perez.
The soft tyres made an appearance as the halfway point loomed, with Kevin Magnussen going P2 for Haas, just 0.062s off Leclerc. Alonso briefly took over the top spot on softs, with 1m32.877s, while Sainz lapped 0.188s off that after running wide at the final two corners.
Leclerc retook his place at the head of the timesheet with 1m32.263s on softs, 0.6s clear, with Bottas surging to third and Perez taking fourth.
Verstappen reset the bar with 28 minutes to go, setting 1m31.936s that would remain the fastest lap of the day. Leclerc responded with 1m32.023s on his second push lap, just 0.087s slower.
Sainz pitted but later went third after taking another run on his softs, albeit 0.584s off the pace. Russell ended up fourth, ahead of Alonso, Bottas, Perez, Mick Schumacher (Haas), Hamilton and Magnussen.
FP1 pacesetter Gasly could only manage the 13th-quickest time, 1.685s off the pace.