Lewis Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in FP2 at F1 Bahrain Grand Prix
Mercedes 1-2 in FP2 at F1 Bahrain Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton goes fastest
Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the second practice session at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on Thursday to give Mercedes a much-needed boost.
Teammate George Russell was second-fastest - while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was notably sixth.
Fernando Alonso was third, behind the Mercedes duo, Carlos Sainz was fourth, Oscar Piastri fifth.
Hamilton’s pace - a best time of 1m30.374s - in FP2 will deliver some optimism at Mercedes who, at the opening round of the 2024 F1 season, hope their new W15 car will represent a turnaround after two terrible years.
Just six minutes in, Hamilton set a benchmark of 1:30.751s.
He led Verstappen by half-a-second for the majority of FP2.
The three-time F1 champion and Red Bull driver was left complaining "I have too much air coming through my helmet" in a frustrating session.
Verstappen may have taken some comfort from a race simulation which was fastest, ahead of Hamilton.
After qualifying simulation times, with 20 minutes left on the clock, Hamilton led Russell, Alonso, Sainz, Piastri and Verstappen.
Lando Norris was last after the qualifying sim having made an error which resulted in him aborting his lap.
The third practice session, and qualifying, will be held on Friday.
The F1 Bahrain Grand Prix then takes place on Saturday, 24 hours earlier than the usual traditional slot in Formula 1 to take into account the start of Ramadan in the host country.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
