The FP1 and FP2 results in Bahrain show a much quicker Ferrari team than we saw in Australia.
Will the red team from Italy at last live up to the high expectations shown during winter testing in Barcelona?
We saw a opposite picture of 2 weeks ago in Australia. Today Mercedes was a lot slower than Ferrari and Red Bull Racing seemed to have entered the wrong road again. Just like they did in Australia.
Especially Pierre Gasly looks like he's have a hard time to adapt to the RB15. The same can be said about the Australian he replaces at Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault.
His team mate Nico Hulkenberg was surprisingly quick and even was close to both Mercedes drivers. The German driver who never won a podium but did score a pole was only 1 tenth apart from Bottas.
What have we learned from FP1 & FP2 in Bahrain
- The tyres are all performing in line with Pirelli's expectations. There’s about a second between the hard and the medium, and just under a second between the medium and the soft: so the gaps are nicely spaced out.
- Degradation is reasonably high here as anticipated, especially on the soft compound.
- The track characteristics are somewhat different to the first race in Australia: here it’s all about traction and managing the rear tyres – which are nonetheless holding up well.
- Once again, the cars are quicker than the equivalent free practice sessions last year.
- Despite the most aggressive asphalt of the entire season, the tyres performed with no issues at all, including blistering or graining.
- Track temperatures have been variable today as always in Bahrain: around 20 degrees lower in FP2 than FP1. Generally, temperatures are slightly cooler than last year.
Whether or not the Friday times in Bahrain are a good reference is yet to be seen as no points are rewarded during practice.
This is what the drivers said after their the first day of practice in Bahrain.
Scuderia Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel (1st in FP2 best lap time 1:28.846)
Sebastian Vettel
"The car is not yet where it was in Barcelona. Certainly, it’s better today than in Australia. It was a better day overall, but we still need to pick up the pace for tomorrow.
I am not entirely happy. It has been quite a tricky day because the track was very slippery and it was difficult to always extract the best from the tyres.
We were on a different strategy compared to other drivers and teams, that’s why for tomorrow we still need to improve. I think we have some more potential in the car that we have to unleash for qualifying."
Charles Leclerc (2nd in FP2 best lap time 1:28.881)
Charles Leclerc
“I think it was a good Friday and balance wise I think we are definitely looking better than in Australia. Having said that, it’s better to keep our feet on the ground. I’m pretty sure our rivals didn’t show their real pace today, so tomorrow will not be an easy day for sure.
Overall I’m satisfied as we were able to run our full programme, including some fast laps in the second session, as FP3 will not be that representative because of the temperatures. I felt more comfortable in the car lap after lap. Now it’s all about putting everything together tomorrow”.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Lewis Hamilton (3rd in FP2 best lap time 1:29.449)
Lewis Hamilton
"It’s hard work out there for everyone; FP1 is incredibly hot, the track is at 50 degrees, so everyone is struggling with the tyres. The Ferraris have been quick from the get-go and picked up more pace from there, so it’s completely different to what we’ve seen in Melbourne.
We had some issues with the balance of the car, but we’ve made improvements for FP2. At the moment it looks like the Ferraris are ahead, so we have to keep our heads down, keep working, analyse things tonight and try and come back stronger tomorrow. I think as we get to Qualifying, everything will get a little bit closer, but it is going to be a tough battle."
Valtteri Bottas (4th in FP2 best lap time 1:29.557)
Valtteri Bottas
"FP1 is always a bit difficult in Bahrain because the track is still a bit dusty and the track temperatures are very high, much higher than they are in Qualifying and the race. The car balance didn’t feel great in the first session, but we made some changes in between the session and the car felt much better in FP2.
It looks like it’s going to be very close between us and Ferrari, they are clearly faster around here than they were in Melbourne. So we will have some work to do to improve the set-up of our car and I personally also have room for improvement left. It looks like it will be a hard fight tomorrow, which should make Qualifying very exciting."
Renault F1 Team
Nico Hulkenberg (5th in FP2 best lap 1:29.669)
Nico Hulkenberg
“Overall, it’s been a productive day’s work in Bahrain. It’s always a tricky place to arrive to for the second Grand Prix of the year with the heat and challenging climatic conditions with wind and dust.
There was a distinct lack of grip in FP1 making it quite hard to drive and become comfortable in the car; we had to deal with a lot of oversteer. FP2 was under more representative conditions and I feel we’ve made a good start for both short and long run preparation. Fifth place on the leaderboard always looks nice, but we’re realistic and have our focus totally on qualifying tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo
“I struggled this afternoon and we were off the pace from where we would like. We started on the Hard tyre, which was tricky for grip, but once we put the Soft on it felt slightly more comfortable. I know there are things we can improve on, especially with the balance of the car.
We conducted a lot of work to understand more about the car in the garage this afternoon and then we did the long run, which was a little better. We aren’t as competitive as we should be and obviously I want to be quicker tomorrow, so we will do some homework tonight.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen (6th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.848)
Max Verstappen
“Today was ok but it could have been better. On the medium tyre we look pretty competitive and I should have been fastest on my first short run but I had a little issue at the last corner which lost me two or three tenths. On the softest tyre I just didn’t have enough grip, so we need to look into that and extract more out of it.
On the longer runs we also looked competitive on the medium tyre which should be the most dominant tyre for the race. We still have a bit of set-up work to do, especially as we will probably only get one timed lap on the tyres in qualifying. It also looks like the issues Ferrari had in Melbourne have been resolved, they look fastest at the moment so we need to work to close that gap.”
Pierre Gasly (12th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.429)
Pierre Gasly
“I think the performance was really good in FP1 and at the start of FP2. The balance was not ideal, but that’s normal, especially as it was very hot this morning when we had the first session. This afternoon in FP2 we were fast with the medium tyres but then with the softs we were lacking some pace.
I couldn’t really push on the first laps, so I had to do it on the third, which is not ideal. I think overall the car is good, we’re just missing a bit of pace with this set-up and need to improve our understanding of the soft tyres. I feel confident with the car, for sure it’s a different track than Melbourne so we need to optimise everything but I’m confident we can get it right tomorrow.”
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
Kevin Magnussen (7th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.000)
Kevin Magnussen
“We’ve done some good work today, and there’s more to be done before tomorrow. It was interesting to drive the car on a very hot track in FP1, then later in more representative conditions in FP2.
We’re still learning about the VF-19, so I’m pretty happy to see how it performs. I’d like a bit more rear grip, especially on the long runs, that’s an area I think we can do a bit better, I’m confident we’ll find it. I think we’ve got some good margins to improve the car though, and that’s always a good thing before qualifying. We’ll be in the mix.”
Romain Grosjean (9th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.068)
Romain Grosjean
“I’m reasonably happy with our day. It was good to get FP2 in the darker, cooler conditions. FP1, well, it wasn’t scary, but it was very tricky with the hotter temperatures.
It made the tires tricky, and the car was not behaving well, but it was the same for everyone. It was good to get into it in FP2, we got to see how the car acted in the conditions that we’ll have in qualifying tomorrow. I was happier in those conditions than in the earlier session, so that’s a positive. The car was behaving much better.”
McLaren F1 Team
Lando Norris (8th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.017)
Lando Norris
“There are still things to improve upon but it’s been a decent start to the weekend. I feel more confident because I know the procedures a little more. I think FP1 went reasonably well: we got through everything we had to and I got a good feeling for the track. The track temperature in FP2 came down a lot meaning the car felt pretty different and obviously lap times were much faster.
“We ended that session with a small issue which didn’t allow me to do as many laps as I wanted – but I still did a longer run on the higher fuel plus short runs at the beginning of the session, so I got a decent feeling.”
Carlos Sainz (11th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.192)
Carlos Sainz
“It was a smooth Friday and we could complete our programme without any issues. Overall, the performance looks good and promising, but we know that tomorrow the others will turn up their engines, so we have to be cautious there.
“Happy with today. We just need to make sure that one timed lap is nailed a bit better to maximise the result in quali. Still some margin to improve the car as well so I look forward to tomorrow.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
Daniil Kvyat (10th in FP2 best lap 1:30.093)
Daniil Kvyat
“Generally, we had quite a productive Friday. We managed to cover all of the useful test items we planned for the day, and also covered both short and long runs – which is very important for Friday practice!
It seems like everything is quite tight in terms of performance among the midfield teams, so we will work hard overnight to optimise the car for tomorrow in order to put us where we want to be.”
Alexander Albon (13th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.458)
Alexander Albon
“It was a pretty good day in the office. I think, as we’ve seen already, the midfield is really close which leaves no room for error. We struggled a bit with balance in the morning session but we were able to fix that for FP2, although we need to make some changes overnight to further improve the performance of the car.
There’s definitely a few things we need to tune in order to be ready for tomorrow, so it’s just going to be about maximising the package we have and being at the sharp end of the midfield. We know what needs changing, so hopefully we can be more competitive tomorrow for Qualifying.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Pérez (14th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.716)
Sergio Pérez
“It’s been a challenging day to start our Bahrain weekend. We need to work hard to find a few tenths overnight and improve the balance of the car, otherwise it’ll be very difficult to reach Q3.
The sessions earlier in the day, FP1 and FP3, are not that relevant because the temperatures are so much higher than what we expect for qualifying and the race, so the opportunities to work on the set-up are limited. We tried lots of things on the car today, which will help our learning in the long term, and we collected all the usual tyre information ahead of the race.”
Lance Stroll (17th in FP2 lap time 1:31.129)
Lance Stroll
“It wasn’t easy today. We need to review the data and work hard to understand where we can find some more performance. The first session was very busy with big changes to the car – running different aero parts – and trying to understand the best direction for the rest of the weekend.
We know it’s very competitive in the midfield so we have to find some speed tonight if we are to be in the top ten tomorrow.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
George Russel (19th in FP2 best lap 1:31.904)
George Russell
“I enjoy driving in Bahrain it’s a really nice track with a good flow to it. I think we are very slightly closer, as the circuit generally suits the team more than others, but we are where we expected. FP1 was quite a challenge, however I think everybody was struggling out there in the hot conditions.
FP2 was much nicer to drive but the lap times are still a long way off and we have a lot of work to do. Whilst we are in this position we need to use it to optimise everything else so when the car does become competitive we are ready to pounce.”
Robert Kubica (20th in FP2 best lap time 1:32.932)
Robert Kubica
“It wasn’t an easy day, but we know what we need to work on. After the first race I had some doubts and questions, but those have now gone.
In Australia, I ran a different set-up to George and we could clearly see the different characteristics of the car, here we started with the same set-up and the characteristics are still different.
I just hope we are able to solve it, but we have some tests to do so we understand the reasons.”
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The FP1 and FP2 results in Bahrain show a much quicker Ferrari team than we saw in Australia.
Will the red team from Italy at last live up to the high expectations shown during winter testing in Barcelona?
We saw a opposite picture of 2 weeks ago in Australia. Today Mercedes was a lot slower than Ferrari and Red Bull Racing seemed to have entered the wrong road again. Just like they did in Australia.
Especially Pierre Gasly looks like he's have a hard time to adapt to the RB15. The same can be said about the Australian he replaces at Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault.
His team mate Nico Hulkenberg was surprisingly quick and even was close to both Mercedes drivers. The German driver who never won a podium but did score a pole was only 1 tenth apart from Bottas.
What have we learned from FP1 & FP2 in Bahrain
Whether or not the Friday times in Bahrain are a good reference is yet to be seen as no points are rewarded during practice.
This is what the drivers said after their the first day of practice in Bahrain.
Sebastian Vettel (1st in FP2 best lap time 1:28.846)
Sebastian Vettel
"The car is not yet where it was in Barcelona. Certainly, it’s better today than in Australia. It was a better day overall, but we still need to pick up the pace for tomorrow.
I am not entirely happy. It has been quite a tricky day because the track was very slippery and it was difficult to always extract the best from the tyres.
We were on a different strategy compared to other drivers and teams, that’s why for tomorrow we still need to improve. I think we have some more potential in the car that we have to unleash for qualifying."
Charles Leclerc (2nd in FP2 best lap time 1:28.881)
Charles Leclerc
“I think it was a good Friday and balance wise I think we are definitely looking better than in Australia. Having said that, it’s better to keep our feet on the ground. I’m pretty sure our rivals didn’t show their real pace today, so tomorrow will not be an easy day for sure.
Overall I’m satisfied as we were able to run our full programme, including some fast laps in the second session, as FP3 will not be that representative because of the temperatures. I felt more comfortable in the car lap after lap. Now it’s all about putting everything together tomorrow”.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Lewis Hamilton (3rd in FP2 best lap time 1:29.449)
Lewis Hamilton
"It’s hard work out there for everyone; FP1 is incredibly hot, the track is at 50 degrees, so everyone is struggling with the tyres. The Ferraris have been quick from the get-go and picked up more pace from there, so it’s completely different to what we’ve seen in Melbourne.
We had some issues with the balance of the car, but we’ve made improvements for FP2. At the moment it looks like the Ferraris are ahead, so we have to keep our heads down, keep working, analyse things tonight and try and come back stronger tomorrow. I think as we get to Qualifying, everything will get a little bit closer, but it is going to be a tough battle."
Valtteri Bottas (4th in FP2 best lap time 1:29.557)
Valtteri Bottas
"FP1 is always a bit difficult in Bahrain because the track is still a bit dusty and the track temperatures are very high, much higher than they are in Qualifying and the race. The car balance didn’t feel great in the first session, but we made some changes in between the session and the car felt much better in FP2.
It looks like it’s going to be very close between us and Ferrari, they are clearly faster around here than they were in Melbourne. So we will have some work to do to improve the set-up of our car and I personally also have room for improvement left. It looks like it will be a hard fight tomorrow, which should make Qualifying very exciting."
Renault F1 Team
Nico Hulkenberg (5th in FP2 best lap 1:29.669)
Nico Hulkenberg
“Overall, it’s been a productive day’s work in Bahrain. It’s always a tricky place to arrive to for the second Grand Prix of the year with the heat and challenging climatic conditions with wind and dust.
There was a distinct lack of grip in FP1 making it quite hard to drive and become comfortable in the car; we had to deal with a lot of oversteer. FP2 was under more representative conditions and I feel we’ve made a good start for both short and long run preparation. Fifth place on the leaderboard always looks nice, but we’re realistic and have our focus totally on qualifying tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo (15th in FP2 best lap 1:30.848)
Daniel Ricciardo
“I struggled this afternoon and we were off the pace from where we would like. We started on the Hard tyre, which was tricky for grip, but once we put the Soft on it felt slightly more comfortable. I know there are things we can improve on, especially with the balance of the car.
We conducted a lot of work to understand more about the car in the garage this afternoon and then we did the long run, which was a little better. We aren’t as competitive as we should be and obviously I want to be quicker tomorrow, so we will do some homework tonight.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen (6th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.848)
Max Verstappen
“Today was ok but it could have been better. On the medium tyre we look pretty competitive and I should have been fastest on my first short run but I had a little issue at the last corner which lost me two or three tenths. On the softest tyre I just didn’t have enough grip, so we need to look into that and extract more out of it.
On the longer runs we also looked competitive on the medium tyre which should be the most dominant tyre for the race. We still have a bit of set-up work to do, especially as we will probably only get one timed lap on the tyres in qualifying. It also looks like the issues Ferrari had in Melbourne have been resolved, they look fastest at the moment so we need to work to close that gap.”
Pierre Gasly (12th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.429)
Pierre Gasly
“I think the performance was really good in FP1 and at the start of FP2. The balance was not ideal, but that’s normal, especially as it was very hot this morning when we had the first session. This afternoon in FP2 we were fast with the medium tyres but then with the softs we were lacking some pace.
I couldn’t really push on the first laps, so I had to do it on the third, which is not ideal. I think overall the car is good, we’re just missing a bit of pace with this set-up and need to improve our understanding of the soft tyres. I feel confident with the car, for sure it’s a different track than Melbourne so we need to optimise everything but I’m confident we can get it right tomorrow.”
Kevin Magnussen (7th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.000)
Kevin Magnussen
“We’ve done some good work today, and there’s more to be done before tomorrow. It was interesting to drive the car on a very hot track in FP1, then later in more representative conditions in FP2.
We’re still learning about the VF-19, so I’m pretty happy to see how it performs. I’d like a bit more rear grip, especially on the long runs, that’s an area I think we can do a bit better, I’m confident we’ll find it. I think we’ve got some good margins to improve the car though, and that’s always a good thing before qualifying. We’ll be in the mix.”
Romain Grosjean (9th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.068)
Romain Grosjean
“I’m reasonably happy with our day. It was good to get FP2 in the darker, cooler conditions. FP1, well, it wasn’t scary, but it was very tricky with the hotter temperatures.
It made the tires tricky, and the car was not behaving well, but it was the same for everyone. It was good to get into it in FP2, we got to see how the car acted in the conditions that we’ll have in qualifying tomorrow. I was happier in those conditions than in the earlier session, so that’s a positive. The car was behaving much better.”
Lando Norris (8th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.017)
Lando Norris
“There are still things to improve upon but it’s been a decent start to the weekend. I feel more confident because I know the procedures a little more. I think FP1 went reasonably well: we got through everything we had to and I got a good feeling for the track. The track temperature in FP2 came down a lot meaning the car felt pretty different and obviously lap times were much faster.
“We ended that session with a small issue which didn’t allow me to do as many laps as I wanted – but I still did a longer run on the higher fuel plus short runs at the beginning of the session, so I got a decent feeling.”
Carlos Sainz (11th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.192)
Carlos Sainz
“It was a smooth Friday and we could complete our programme without any issues. Overall, the performance looks good and promising, but we know that tomorrow the others will turn up their engines, so we have to be cautious there.
“Happy with today. We just need to make sure that one timed lap is nailed a bit better to maximise the result in quali. Still some margin to improve the car as well so I look forward to tomorrow.”
Daniil Kvyat (10th in FP2 best lap 1:30.093)
Daniil Kvyat
“Generally, we had quite a productive Friday. We managed to cover all of the useful test items we planned for the day, and also covered both short and long runs – which is very important for Friday practice!
It seems like everything is quite tight in terms of performance among the midfield teams, so we will work hard overnight to optimise the car for tomorrow in order to put us where we want to be.”
Alexander Albon (13th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.458)
Alexander Albon
“It was a pretty good day in the office. I think, as we’ve seen already, the midfield is really close which leaves no room for error. We struggled a bit with balance in the morning session but we were able to fix that for FP2, although we need to make some changes overnight to further improve the performance of the car.
There’s definitely a few things we need to tune in order to be ready for tomorrow, so it’s just going to be about maximising the package we have and being at the sharp end of the midfield. We know what needs changing, so hopefully we can be more competitive tomorrow for Qualifying.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Pérez (14th in FP2 best lap time 1:30.716)
Sergio Pérez
“It’s been a challenging day to start our Bahrain weekend. We need to work hard to find a few tenths overnight and improve the balance of the car, otherwise it’ll be very difficult to reach Q3.
The sessions earlier in the day, FP1 and FP3, are not that relevant because the temperatures are so much higher than what we expect for qualifying and the race, so the opportunities to work on the set-up are limited. We tried lots of things on the car today, which will help our learning in the long term, and we collected all the usual tyre information ahead of the race.”
Lance Stroll (17th in FP2 lap time 1:31.129)
Lance Stroll
“It wasn’t easy today. We need to review the data and work hard to understand where we can find some more performance. The first session was very busy with big changes to the car – running different aero parts – and trying to understand the best direction for the rest of the weekend.
We know it’s very competitive in the midfield so we have to find some speed tonight if we are to be in the top ten tomorrow.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
George Russel (19th in FP2 best lap 1:31.904)
George Russell
“I enjoy driving in Bahrain it’s a really nice track with a good flow to it. I think we are very slightly closer, as the circuit generally suits the team more than others, but we are where we expected. FP1 was quite a challenge, however I think everybody was struggling out there in the hot conditions.
FP2 was much nicer to drive but the lap times are still a long way off and we have a lot of work to do. Whilst we are in this position we need to use it to optimise everything else so when the car does become competitive we are ready to pounce.”
Robert Kubica (20th in FP2 best lap time 1:32.932)
Robert Kubica
“It wasn’t an easy day, but we know what we need to work on. After the first race I had some doubts and questions, but those have now gone.
In Australia, I ran a different set-up to George and we could clearly see the different characteristics of the car, here we started with the same set-up and the characteristics are still different.
I just hope we are able to solve it, but we have some tests to do so we understand the reasons.”
See Lap times 1st practice 2019 Bahrain F1 GP
See Lap times 2nd practice 2019 Bahrain F1 GP
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