F1 – Lewis Hamilton was quickest yesterday evening under lights in the second Formula 1 practice of the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024.
The seven-time world champion led Mercedes teammate George Russell to the top of the timesheet in the hour-long session, held in cool evening conditions as the opening day of the kingdom’s 20th anniversary F1 weekend wrapped up at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’.
Hamilton clocked a fastest lap of one minute 30.374 seconds while completing 25 laps of running. His best was nearly two-and-a-half clicks quicker than the pace-setting time of Daniel Ricciardo of RB in the first practice held earlier in the day.
Russell was 0.206 seconds behind, while Fernando Alonso followed in third for Aston Martin 0.286s back. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth on the classification 0.395s adrift, and Oscar Piastri put McLaren in fifth 0.410s from the leader.
Reigning drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen was sixth for Red Bull 0.477s slower than Hamilton’s top mark, while Nico Hulkenberg had a solid session for Haas to rank seventh 0.510s adrift.
Lance Stroll was eighth in the other Aston Martin 0.517s from first place, while Charles Leclerc (0.739s) for Ferrari and Sergio Perez (+0.741s) of Red Bull completed the top 10.
Eleventh through 20th on the timesheet were Alexander Albon of Williams, Ricciardo, Logan Sargeant of Williams, Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Yuki Tsunoda of RB, Pierre Gasly of Alpine, Valtteri Bottas of Kick Sauber, Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Zhou Guanyu of Kick Sauber, and Lando Norris of McLaren.
Mercedes, who endured their first winless campaign since 2011 last year, have redesigned their car for the 2024 season to make it less “spiteful”.
Their practice showing will offer Russell and Hamilton, who last won a race in 2021 and is replacing Sainz at Ferrari next year, encouragement of a return to the top step of the podium.
Hamilton said he was much happier in the car than last year, with a more comfortable seat position.
“I’ve got a better feel for the car approaching the corners but there are other areas that have been fixed and improved. It feels like a racecar for once and the last two cars didn’t feel like that,” he added.
Russell refused to get carried away by the timesheets even if the qualifying pace looked strong.
“We still need to try and understand why it was so good, we made some changes from the test and it exceeded our expectations but ultimately (on) the long run pace, which is where it all happens, Max was still ahead of us,” said the Briton.
“It was very close with Fernando, with Lando and the Ferraris and Lewis and I were very similar as well so we’ve got a real fight on our hands.”
The F1 field returns for a third practice session today at 1.15pm, which will be followed by the first qualifying of the F1 season at 7pm.