Bahrain GP: Verstappen takes the second free practice session, but watch out for Ferrari

The first signs are coming. Of confirmation, from some teams, and of many doubts instead for others. On the Friday of free practice in Bahrain, two drivers are the masters above all: Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. The world champion, after the fifth position in FP1, set the pace in the afternoon followed by Leclerc's F1-75. The tests, and for now also the free practice sessions, have highlighted this: Ferrari and Red Bull are the two most balanced cars. They seem to have that little bit more than the others. Especially the Reds: the race pace is excellent, almost equal to that of Red Bull (or better than Verstappen), and having three out of four Ferrari-powered drivers in the top ten is certainly an incredible result.     

Not a good start

Instead, the experiments at Mercedes continue. The choice of the English team, for the second free practice session, was to go back to the old fund. “Keep hopping,” Lewis Hamilton told a team radio. The English driver is in total difficulty. Problems both in the flying lap, evidenced by the ninth position in the second session, and by a race pace that is not the same as that of the top teams. Is it possible they are hiding? Arriving at the Friday of the first race of the season, it's difficult to think of such a thing, as the problems on the W13 are really evident.  

Who will amaze?

The fight in the center group is beautiful for now. Counting the excellent work of Haas, with Schumacher eighth and Magnussen tenth, the other teams try to respond. Alpine closes with Alonso fifth and Ocon twelfth, while AlphaTauri does not go beyond the thirteenth and fourteenth boxes with Gasly and Tsunoda. Good flying lap for Bottas who makes everyone feel the power of the new Ferrari engine, finishing in sixth place, clearly ahead of his new teammate Zhou fifteenth.

Too many problems

Too many question marks instead for Aston Martin and McLaren. Stroll's team still shows that it is not at the top, as is McLaren. The Woking stable lacks access to the top ten: Norris finishes eleventh, while there seems to be no peace for Ricciardo who has to settle for eighteenth place following a series of problems with his car.

Thus ends the first Friday of the new Formula One season. Still some uncertainties and some doubts about the possible "hierarchies". To discover them, and see if they are confirmed, we just have to wait for tomorrow, with the last free practice session scheduled at 13.00 and qualifying at 16.00.