Bahrain Grand Prix – Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has completed a Friday clean sweep by going quickest in second practice at Sakhir.Click here for the complete results from FP2 – 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off in the afternoon session by going quickest in the evening during second practice at the Bahrain International Circuit. With darkness closing in and the drivers heading out under the floodlights, the conditions for FP2 were far more representative of what can be expected for Sunday’s race.
Hamilton left it quite late to put in a fast time, having spent the majority of his session out on Pirelli’s 2021 test compound C3 as well as the Medium compound. He didn’t enjoy his time on the test compound, complaining of a lack of grip, but came to life on the Softs.
Hamilton fitted the Softs in the final half hour of the session, following two red flag periods. The first was to cover the recovery of Alex Albon’s car, as the Red Bull driver crashed at the final corner with just over half an hour remaining. Running wide out of the final corner, Albon kept the power down and lost contol of the rear. He hit the barriers sideways and, while it was a hard hit, was uninjured and climbed out to be taken to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks. As the session resumed, a stray dog ran across the track and brought the session to another halt. The dog was unscathed as he ran away behind the barriers.
Hamilton used the Softs to put in a 1:28.971 to pip his best afternoon time by just a tenth of a second. This time was good enough to keep him 0.347 clear of Max Verstappen, although the Red Bull driver used the Medium compound for his best lap.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished the day in P3, a further 0.018 behind Verstappen – the Finn set his best time on the Soft compound. Sergio Perez, impressive in the first session in P3, continued to shine as he finished P4 for Racing Point and less than a tenth behind Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo was P5 for Renault, also very close behind as the battle for position in the Constructor’s Championship heats up for the final races.
Pierre Gasly, who had box office seats for Albon’s crash as he had just let his Red Bull stablemate through seconds before losing control, finished the session in P6 for Alpha Tauri and was just over half a second away from Hamilton’s best laptime.
Lando Norris, who had a very quiet afternoon practice session, ramped up the pace in the evening and finished in P7 for McLaren. Lance Stroll was P8 for Racing Point, while Daniil Kvyat finished in P9 for Alpha Tauri. Alex Albon was P10 by the chequered flag, falling down the order a little as others improved after he had crashed out of the session.
Esteban Ocon was P11 for Renault, while Sebastian Vettel finished as the quicker Ferrari driver by placing P12. Carlos Sainz was P13 for McLaren, with Charles Leclerc having to settle for P14.
Antonio Giovinazzi finished P15 for Alfa Romeo, Kevin Magnussen P16 for Haas, and Kimi Raikkone P17 for Alfa Romeo as he took his car back after Robert Kubica’s earlier practice appearance.
Nicholas Latifi led Williams’ charge by placing P18, Romain Grosjean was P19, and George Russell P20 for Williams.
