This time, the Aston Martin “threat” is really becoming clearer for the top of the Formula 1 table. After many encouraging sessions, Fernando Alonso set the best time in the second practice session on Friday afternoon. free from the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The one contested under similar conditions to qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday. The Spaniard was the only driver to drop below the 1’31 mark (1’30”907). He beat Max Verstappen (+ 0”169) and Sergio Perez (+ 0”171), the best time in the first session, for a group shot from Red Bull in two thousandths. The two-time Dutch world champion noted that his car was not as stable as it was during mid-session testing.
Charles Leclerc took fourth place (+0”460) well ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz who was again very much behind (14th at +1”049). Behind, the performance of Nico Hulkenberg has caused trouble for the hierarchy of this session with his sixth time (+ 0”469). Haas had already achieved the 7th fastest time (with Magnussen) during the morning session.
Gasly and Ocon respectively 7th and 11th
Sixth place for Lance Stroll (+0”543) confirms the potential of the Aston Martin but the on-board camera images are cause for concern for the Canadian. On several occasions, he took his left hand out of the steering wheel to push it from underneath rather than turning it in the conventional way. And when his engineer asked him to approach the first corner differently to have a better trajectory in the second, the driver replied that he was not capable of it with his hands.
The Alpines were a little more to their advantage than in the first session. Pierre Gasly set the seventh fastest time at 0”568 from Alonso and Esteban Ocon took eleventh place (+0”701). It’s better than the Mercedes who finished 8th and 13th with Lewis Hamilton (+ 0”636) and George Russell (+ 0”975). Finally, the bottom of the grid is already emerging quite clearly with the two Alpha Tauri and the two Williams confined to the last positions, Logan Sargeant, bringing up the rear on Friday evening at Sakhir.