Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel headed Charles Leclerc in second practice session of 2019 F1 Bahrain GP with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in third.
The Ferrari drivers continued their fine form in Bahrain GP in the second free practice session at Bahrain International Circuit with Sebastian Vettel taking the top spot from teammate Charles Leclerc unlike FP1 where Leclerc was ahead.
Vettel set a 1m28.846s under the floodlights in Bahrain – a more representative conditions for qualifying and the race – with Leclerc clocking a 1m28.881s lap. They were the only drivers in the 1m28s bracket with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton lining up in third.
Hamilton did a 1m29.449s with teammate Valtteri Bottas (1m29.557s) in fourth but the German outfit focused on a different strategy to Ferrari in their run plan. Unlike FP1, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m29.669s) was fifth behind the Top 2 teams.
The German managed to beat Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1m29.725s) with the team having a rough time as Pierre Gasly (1m30.429s) was only 12th. After a slow run in FP1, Haas were back in form with Kevin Magnussen (1m30.000s) in seventh.
McLaren continued their good run with Lando Norris (1m30.017s) in eighth while being in the Haas sandwich with Romain Grosjean (1m30.068s) ninth as Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1m30.093s) rounded out the Top 10 with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m30.192s) in 11th.
Following Gasly in 13th was Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon (1m30.458s) having a good time in Bahrain so far, but Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m30.716s) and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m30.848s) not so much in 14th and 15th respectively.
The Mexican’s car needed some work earlier in the session, while the Australian having a difficult time on the whole. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m31.129s) ended up 17th in a Alfa Romeo sandwich after the Canadian needed floor work after hitting hard on the kerb.
Kimi Raikkonen (1m31.088s) finished 16th with Antonio Giovinazzi (1m31.144s) 18th but together they only managed 16 laps as a water leak on both the Alfa Romeo cars disrupted their FP2 programme much early than they anticipated.
Giovinazzi managed to get back on track towards the end stages but Raikkonen stayed in the pits. The two Williams cars rounded the 20 runners with George Russell (1m31.904s) in 19th and Robert Kubica (1m32.932s) 20th.