F1 Paddock Notebook – Bahrain Grand Prix Friday

Crash.net brings you its daily round-up of all the news, updates and added gossip from the paddock after Friday practice ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

- Sebastian Vettel has blamed a slippery Bahrain track surface for his spin during FP2, while Kimi Raikkonen and Lance Stroll also suffered similar offs.

- Carlos Sainz Jr will start the Bahrain Grand Prix with a new gearbox but does not pick up a grid penalty as he failed to finish the last race in Australia.

- Romain Grosjean says there was no obvious reason why his front wing broke during FP1 but is confident it wasn’t down to a mechanical failure or hitting a kerb.

- Kimi Raikkonen joked “he ran out of talent” spinning at Turn 2 on his opening out-lap in the afternoon session.

- Both Antonio Giovinazzi and Nico Hulkenberg avoided punishment for clashing on track during the final stages of FP1. It was put down to a misunderstanding with both drivers on slow laps.

- Toto Wolff says he treats new Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto “completely differently” to previous team boss rival Maurizio Arrivabene as they are “on both sides of the spectrum”.

- Alexander Albon says he was “robbed” in a karting race against Lando Norris as part of a Sky Sports F1 TV feature to be broadcast later in the season.

- Norris described racing in the dark in Bahrain as “like running down a corridor” in his first experience of F1 night racing.

- Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost made a thinly-veiled jab at Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul during the FIA team principals’ press conference defending the satellite team model and says they need “to do their homework” to be competitive rather than complain.

- Stefano Lai is leaving Ferrari as Chief Communication Officer after 11 years in the role and take a break away from racing and Formula 1.