SAKHIR, Bahrain — In Friday’s second practice session for Formula 1’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain Int’l Circuit, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso set the pace ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
Alonso’s fast time was 1 minute and 30.907 seconds.
“It felt good to drive the car today and it is nice to see both cars high up on the timing sheets, especially after only three days of testing,” Alonso said. “The team is working together well, and we are still learning a lot about the new car.”
The reigning world champion finished 0.169 seconds behind Alonso.
“From FP1 to FP2, we went in the right direction. I just need to find my rhythm again. The Aston Martins are looking competitive, you could see that already from testing. There’s still a bit more work to do, we know we have a competitive car, it’s just about putting it all the pieces together,” Verstappen said.
Sergio Perez was third, .002 seconds behind teammate Verstappen.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished second in the championship last year, claimed fourth in practice. Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth.
Mercedes’ driver Lewis Hamilton, who owns the most wins (five) and pole positions (three) at the Bahrain Grand Prix, ended practice in eighth place.
“We’ve got a lot to work on. We knew we were behind some of our competitors at testing and today, we found out that we are a long way off. We’ll keep our heads down tonight, go through the data and continue to work to find some progress for tomorrow,” Hamilton said.
American Logan Sargeant, the first U.S. driver with a full-time F-1 drive in five years, was 20th on the practice grid aboard the No. 2 Williams Mercedes.