McLaren Takes Charge in Second Practice Session

In the night-time session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri outperformed his teammate Lando Norris, securing a lead of 0.154 seconds. The cooler temperatures allowed for more representative conditions after a sweltering first practice in broad daylight.

Early Excitement and Incidents

Early excitement was provided by Fernando Alonso, who had to replace his Aston Martin steering wheel mid-run, forcing him to pit. Meanwhile, George Russell led the early running before lap times took a tumble around the halfway point as most drivers embarked on single-lap runs.

After a brief stint at the top by world champion Max Verstappen, McLaren‘s title contenders Norris and Piastri took over the lead. Piastri’s soft-tyre lap of 1m30.505s was just 0.154 seconds quicker than his British teammate.

Top 10 Performance and Struggles

Russell slotted in third, over half a second behind as the Mercedes appeared to be quicker on the straights but lost out to the dominant McLaren in higher downforce areas. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc took fourth with a lap time of 1m31.054s, splitting the two Mercedes cars. Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top five.

Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls followed up a maiden point-scoring weekend in Japan with another strong performance, placing sixth ahead of Verstappen and Ferrari‘s Lewis Hamilton. Haas driver Oliver Bearman was ninth, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz completing the top 10.

Challenging Session for Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda endured a difficult session in the second Red Bull, settling for 18th, although Red Bull’s tendency to run in lower engine modes on Friday may have distorted the picture.