Piastri goes fastest in the second free practice session in Bahrain

IMAGE: AP Pic

Oscar Piastri was the fastest on track in FP2 in Bahrain where Mclaren set the pace. 

The Aussie put in a lap time of 1:30.505, finishing just a tenth of a second ahead of his Mclaren teammate Lando Norris as the Papaya team dominated the second practice session of the weekend. 

George Russell was P3 in his first session of the weekend after loaning his car to Fred Vesti earlier on today continuing his consistent good performances on track this season. 

Charles Leclerc also returned to the track for FP2, he finished just 5 tenths of a second off the leader in P4 which is a strong session for the Ferrari.

P5 went to Antonelli who was back in the running after suffering from mechanical issues in FP1 set a great time not far behind his Mercedes teammate. 

Isack Hadjar impressed yet again following up his briliant points finish in Japan with some great lap times in FP2 that left him in P6 ahead of Max Vertsappen.

The four time World Champion was expressing his frustrations over the radio throughout the session saying that the car was "jumping a lot" and that he was struggling with brake issues in the latter stages of practice. Despite the issues, he still held onto P7 - 11 places ahead of his teammate. 

The top 10 was finished by Lewis Hamilton (who was carrying on testing his new floor), Oliver Bearman who is consistently performing in the Haas, and Carlos Sainz for Williams - a welcome result for the British team. 

Fernando Alonso had a far from smooth running session due to steering wheel issue in the early stages. The Spaniard reported a problem with his steering wheel "switching off" only to pull the whole wheel off moments later. He limped back to the pits where the Aston Martin worked on repairing the problem. A first for many F1 viewers to witness I'm sure!

Tsunoda placed P17 proving that getting to grips with this Red Bull machinery is going to take time. 

Lap times were 3 seconds quicker than FP1 one showing the fast develop[ing conditions on track that will have no doubt have changed again come FP3 tomorrow at 1.30pm UK time. 


Top 10 in Free Practice 2
1. Oscar Piastri (1:30.505)
2. Lando Norris (1:30.659)
3. George Russell (1:31.032)
4. Charles Leclerc (1:31.045)
5. Kimi Antonelli (1:31.227)
6. Isack Hadjar (1:31.238)
7. Max Verstappen (1:31.330)
8. Lewis Hamilton (1:31.576)
9. Oliver Bearman (1:31.584)
10. Carlos Sainz (1:31.623)

Katie Shepherd
Writer - F1 Journal