Friday practice for the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia was atypical in several respects. Lap times turned out to be four and a half seconds slower than expected due to the poor track surface, Mercedes did not impress as much as perhaps expected and the run plans were rather unusual.
The latter was perhaps most evident with Max Verstappen. Normally, drivers complete their qualifying simulations halfway through the second practice session before using the second half for long runs. With the FIA estimating the chance of rain ahead of FP2 at 90%, several teams wanted to play it safe, which in practice meant bringing their long runs forward.
