Max Verstappen narrowly eclipsed Charles Leclerc to the best time during second practice for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton struggled.
Verstappen clocked a time of 1:31.936s to edge his Ferrari rival by just 0.087s during the twilight second session at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Leclerc set his best time on his second push lap, having initially been three-tenths off, while Verstappen recorded his benchmark on his first push effort.
Leclerc went for another hot lap later in the session but encountered Yuki Tsunoda through Turn 8 and had to back off.
Carlos Sainz was third for Ferrari on his second push lap after an earlier mistake.
George Russell provided promise for Mercedes, classifying fourth, but was almost six-tenths of a second behind leader Verstappen.
Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a difficult session.
Both Mercedes drivers were off the pace on the Medium tyres early in the session, over a second behind Leclerc, who initially set the benchmark.
While Russell improved to fourth on Softs, Hamilton was left only ninth.
Hamilton locked up into Turn 1 on his first push lap and subsequently suffered from a malfunctioning DRS.
Alpine and Alfa Romeo displayed encouraging speed – as did last year’s backmarkers Haas.
Fernando Alonso was fifth, within a second of Verstappen, while Valtteri Bottas was sixth, as he got up to speed following a disrupted opening session amid a misfire.
Haas had Mick Schumacher in eighth and Kevin Magnussen at the foot of the top 10.
Schumacher’s best time was only 1.1s down on Verstappen.
At the opposite end of the spectrum it was a low-key day for several other teams.
McLaren had Lando Norris only 11th while Daniel Ricciardo – who missed the second test due to Covid-19 – classified a mere 18th.
Ricciardo also completed the least mileage of the 20 drivers after McLaren reported a technical issues
AlphaTauri were a lowly 13th and 14th respectively, Pierre Gasly in front of Tsunoda, while Aston Martin mustered only 16th and 17th respectively.
Lance Stroll finished a tenth of a second in front of super-sub Nico Hulkenberg, though both were two seconds down on Verstappen.
Williams emerged as Friday’s slowest team; Nicholas Latifi was 2.5s off the pace in 19th spot, with returnee Alexander Albon two-tenths further adrift at the back.
Saturday’s third practice session is scheduled for 15:00 local time
[motorsport_result id='83151']
