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Charles Bradley

F1 results: Fernando Alonso fastest in Bahrain GP practice

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was quickest in FP1, held in full daylight conditions, before Aston newcomer Alonso topped FP2 after darkness had descended.

Bahrain Grand Prix FP1 results: Perez fastest from Alonso

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 21 1'32.758     210.043
2 Spain Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 22 1'33.196 0.438 0.438 209.056
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 21 1'33.375 0.617 0.179 208.655
4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 21 1'34.165 1.407 0.790 206.904
5 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 17 1'34.257 1.499 0.092 206.702
6 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 17 1'34.298 1.540 0.041 206.613
7 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 20 1'34.402 1.644 0.104 206.385
8 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 18 1'34.575 1.817 0.173 206.007
9 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 20 1'34.689 1.931 0.114 205.759
10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 13 1'34.917 2.159 0.228 205.265
11 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 20 1'34.966 2.208 0.049 205.159
12 Australia Oscar Piastri McLaren 24 1'34.997 2.239 0.031 205.092
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 20 1'35.015 2.257 0.018 205.053
14 Germany Nico Hulkenberg Haas 22 1'35.043 2.285 0.028 204.993
15 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 20 1'35.105 2.347 0.062 204.859
16 Netherlands Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 25 1'35.402 2.644 0.297 204.222
17 France Pierre Gasly Alpine 22 1'35.455 2.697 0.053 204.108
18 United States Logan Sargeant Williams 24 1'35.749 2.991 0.294 203.482
19 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 15 1'36.018 3.260 0.269 202.911
20 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 21 1'36.072 3.314 0.054 202.797

What happened in Bahrain GP Free Practice 1?

Alonso set the early bar at 1m35.048s on medium tyres for Aston Martin, before Perez took over at the top of the times with 1m34.343s on mediums, some seven tenths faster. Alonso also improved his time but was over half a second off that pace.

At the halfway point, Perez and Max Verstappen switched to soft tyres on their Red Bulls. Perez took P1 with 1m32.758s, 0.617s faster than his team-mate’s 1m33.375s, and over two seconds clear of the opposition.

Alonso then split the Red Bulls with 1m33.196s on his soft-tyre run, with Lando Norris jumping up to fourth for McLaren.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was an impressive fifth on mediums, 1.5s off the pace with 1m34.257s. Ferrari earlier trialled a single-pillar rear wing design, that proved to be very wobbly on track.

His team-mate Carlos Sainz suffered a huge spin at Turn 9 with 20 minutes remaining, as the rear of his car bottomed-out too hard over a bump. Sainz remained planted at the bottom of the times, after not running on soft tyres.

Lance Stroll was back in his Aston Martin after suffering a wrist injury in a cycling accident, which forced him to miss all of testing, but he lost the first half of the session with an ignition problem. He recovered to end the session in sixth.

Mercedes didn’t run the softs and placed 10th and 11th with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell respectively, both over 2s off the pace.

Bahrain Grand Prix FP2 results: Alonso fastest from Verstappen

Pos Nº  Driver  Car / Engine   Time   Delay   Laps 
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'30.907   25
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'31.076 0.169 24
11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'31.078 0.171 26
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'31.367 0.460 26
27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1'31.376 0.469 25
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'31.450 0.543 28
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1'31.475 0.568 24
44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'31.543 0.636 27
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1'31.570 0.663 27
10  24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'31.586 0.679 27
11  31 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1'31.608 0.701 25
12  77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'31.793 0.886 28
13  63 George Russell Mercedes 1'31.882 0.975 25
14  55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1'31.956 1.049 28
15  81 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1'32.024 1.117 27
16  20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'32.110 1.203 18
17  23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1'32.440 1.533 28
18  22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'32.525 1.618 27
19  21 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'32.605 1.698 28
20  2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1'32.749 1.842 29

What happened in Bahrain GP Free Practice 2?

With the sun having set, track temperature tumbled to give much more reflective track conditions for qualifying and the race.

After a poor showing in FP1, Alpine went straight out on softs with Esteban Ocon producing 1m32.415s before Sainz took P1 with 1m31.956s. Leclerc, despite complaining of a clutch issue, beat that by just over a tenth with 1m31.843s.

Just before the halfway point, Stroll went to the top with 1m31.450s. The fastest times then came thick and fast, with Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) producing 1m31.376s and Perez lapping in 1m31.078s, before Alonso achieved 1m30.907s – which proved to be the quickest lap of the day.

Verstappen could only manage 1m31.076s, 0.169s down on Alonso, to go P2. Perez slipped to third, ahead of Leclerc, Hulkenberg and Stroll. Top Mercedes was Hamilton again in eighth, just behind Alpine newboy Pierre Gasly.

Stroll almost caused a big shunt earlier by cruising in the middle of the track into Turn 1, as Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) arrived in a high-speed, side-by-side duel.

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