Bahrain – Free Practice 2: Vettel also shines at night, five drivers within three tenths of each other!

The drivers got down to business with FP2. Like in Singapore or Abu Dhabi, this practice session is devilishly important in Sakhir, the only one of the weekend that replicates the weather conditions of qualifying and the race.

After the midday heat, it’s time for sunset and “cooler” temperatures: with 34 degrees in the air and 35 degrees on the track as the green light passes.

Three drivers injured during the first stint

Stopped due to a turbo overheating in FP1, Kimi Räikkönen was certainly looking forward to taking the track at the same time as his fellow competitors; his teammate as well as the two Haas drivers and Fernando Alonso, the future Indycar driver. On the other side of the McLaren garage, Stoffel Vandoorne had to wait for several minutes. Beginning during the break, his mechanics were still in the process of loading a new power unit after the ERS problem encountered during the first session.

As this afternoon, the first significant laps were done on soft tires. Inseparable two weeks earlier during Qualifications, Bottas and Vettel were separated by one-thousandth of a second. This time, the Finnish driver had the edge over the German rival. But their two teammates surpassed them after fifteen minutes on track. Räikkönen somewhat made up for lost time and set a best time of 1:32.277.

The black cat had actually left the Ferrari to nestle in the exhausts of a Toro Rosso. The onboard fire extinguisher caused a fire scare for Carlos Sainz, who parked his car at turn eleven. The virtual safety car interrupted the session for a few moments.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR

Frustration for SAI as he comes to a stop at Turn 11

Smoke coming from his car#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #FP2 pic.twitter.com/uZQJWhNYPP

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 14

The session resumed with a normal evolution, except for Pascal Wehrlein. Bad news for the former Manor driver, who hurried back with an apparent suspension issue. The right inner wheel of the Sauber wasn’t touching the track! This information marked the end of the first part of the session, symbolized by the 30-minute running mark.

Vettel maintains the upper hand in pure speed, Hamilton hindered

The time had come to discover the performance of the super-soft tire, the most aggressive compound of the weekend. Sebastian Vettel was testing these red-sidewall tires, setting the best performance: 1:31:310, despite “some brake problems in the second part of the lap” according to the driver’s radio. The session was even less linear for Lewis Hamilton, repeatedly blocked by other competitors reluctant to move aside. Provisionally in a nice sixth place, Nico Hülkenberg was one of those who got in the way of the triple world champion.

Once is not customary, Daniel Ricciardo joined the party by completing a flying lap 66 milliseconds behind Vettel, behind Bottas but ahead of Räikkönen and Hamilton. A new similarity compared to Shanghai, the Finn from Mercedes once again abandoned his T-Wing! The flexibility of these appendages will clearly be something for the race stewards to study…

Far from the top, Vandoorne was content to start his program midway through the session. A paradox, while the other drivers were conducting long stint simulations.

In the game of problems, Ferrari was nevertheless trying to catch up with McLaren. Sebastian Vettel experienced a breakdown at the same place as his teammate during FP1! With the engine off but rolling, the four-time world champion returned to his pit at a very slow pace. Without stress, the Scuderia mechanics inspected his car. Minor issue, the German only ran out of fuel!

“YELLOW FLAG

Problems for VET as he loses power close to the end of a lap

Car has been pushed back to the pit lane #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #FP2 pic.twitter.com/vuAWP3ZSkL”

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 14 /f1/actualite/21866-bahrein-essais-libres-1-vettel-en-tete-raikkonen-et-vandoorne-en-panne-moteur.html

3 tenths slower than in 2016!

The last part of this FP2 allowed each of the 20 drivers to gauge themselves before the race. Back on track, Vettel and Räikkönen were in the fight against the two Mercedes. Specifically, “Iceman” was even the most consistent with a series of laps in 1:37, while Hamilton and Bottas were fluctuating between 1:36.500 and 1:37.500. Each had their strategy here: Vettel completing several short stints of 7-8 laps, while Räikkönen went on to complete 23 laps with the super-soft tires. Bottas also surpassed the 20 laps mark, collecting valuable information for his team.

The temperatures continued to drop, but on the track, the cars’ brakes were still being put to the test!

Glow-in-the-dark brakes 👀🌡#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #FP2 pic.twitter.com/Ih6MGwhQ0N

— Formula 1 (@F1) 14 avril /f1/actualite/21866-bahrein-essais-libres-1-vettel-en-tete-raikkonen-et-vandoorne-en-panne-moteur-.html

This second session of the day ended without any issues, with Sebastian Vettel comfortably in control. However, in pure performance and long runs, everything is still up for grabs between the two top teams! Let’s also acknowledge Daniel Ricciardo’s time, finally making it into the top three. Nico Hülkenberg is another pleasant surprise of this session, two-tenths ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams. At the bottom of the timesheet, Stoffel Vandoorne must continue to bide his time.

In any case, observing the best time is very interesting. The heat is affecting the new cars, which seem slightly slower than their 2016 predecessors. Already four-tenths behind this morning, Friday evening’s best time is also a bit off. A year ago, Nico Rosberg set the FP2 benchmark at 1:31:001. Will the trend continue tomorrow during the Qualifications?