Marko Hanželic
V Bahrain the sun had already set behind the horizon, and the drivers took the second free practice to the essentials lower temperatures atmosphere and asphalt as the first. If the asphalt temperature at the first free practice was still 47 degrees Celsius, it has now dropped to 33 degrees Celsius. That is why the results of the second free practice are essential more representative, as both the qualifiers and the race itself take place in in the evening.
Because lower asphalt temperatures It was not surprising that the drivers were significantly faster in the second training session than in the first one, but a new challenge was bend 4 in which the commissioners made sure that the racers did not take it too widely, as in this case deleted the time achieved.
As we mentioned, they are at for this racing weekend Pirelli prepared C2 to C4 tires. Pirelli also allowed the teams to perform this year with lower pressure in tires like last year. While in 2020 it was necessary to have values of 22,5 psi (front) and 21,0 psi (rear), only this year it is possible to drive with 21,0 and 19,0 psi. The change is due to the use of new blends that are more durable than those used last year.
For a little excitement and the first accident this year, he took care of it at the start of the second training session Kimi Räikkönen, which flew off the runway in the third turn and lost its front wings. Despite the damaged car, the Finn is alone to get to the pits. The time of the first training session was the first to seriously improve Lewis Hamilton, which took a time of 1: 31.2 minutes with medium tires.
After the period medium tires most teams have moved on to soft, which Hamilton they did not bring a significant improvement, as he improved his time by only two tenths. The best time then succeeded again Max Verstappn, who set the bar too high for everyone else with a time of 1: 30.847. He came very close to him Lando Norris, who was less than a tenth of a second behind the Dutchman in the end.
Towards the end of the second training session, we saw mostly due to the changed dates longrun, which also meant that there were no major shifts in the scale of the fastest times. Interestingly, the first sector eventually belonged Carlos Sainz, who is obviously already well accustomed to the new car.
Let's look down the ladder. While it is Carlos Sainz convinced his engagement with fourth place, he Charles Leclerc the second training ended only in 12th place. There is a similar discrepancy between Lance Stroll (7th place) and Sebastian Vettl (14th place), but it would have been much different if the German had not made a mistake in the last sector of his last fast lap.
The positive surprise of the day is definitely Alpha Tauri, as both racers finished within the top ten, and are expected to be at the tail of the table at Williams in Haas, where it is Mick Schumacher in 18th place rushed between the two racers of the team from Grove.
Which can fill us with optimismto watch this year more interesting season like last year, the fact that there were seven racers and five teams within half a second, and the first fifteen racers are separated by less than a second, and of course we don't have an answer to the question of whether the superior team of recent years, Mercedes, may not hide their true form.
GP Bahrain, FP2 - results:
| M. | No. | The driver | Team | Hour | Lag |
| 1 | 33 | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:30.847 | |
| 2 | 4 | L.Norris | McLaren | 1:30.942 | + 0: 00.095 |
| 3 | 44 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.082 | + 0: 00.235 |
| 4 | 55 | C.Sainz | Ferrari | 1:31.127 | + 0: 00.280 |
| 5 | 77 | V. Bottas | Mercedes | 1:31.218 | + 0: 00.371 |
| 6 | 3 | D. Ricciardo | McLaren | 1:31.230 | + 0: 00.383 |
| 7 | 22 | Y.Tsunoda | Alpha Tauri | 1:31.294 | + 0: 00.447 |
| 8 | 18 | L. Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:31.393 | + 0: 00.546 |
| 9 | 10 | P. Gasly | Alpha Tauri | 1:31.483 | + 0: 00.636 |
| 10 | 11 | S. Perez | Red Bull | 1:31.503 | + 0: 00.656 |
| 11 | 31 | E. Ocon | Alpine | 1:31.601 | + 0: 00.754 |
| 12 | 16 | C.Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:31.612 | + 0: 00.765 |
| 13 | 99 | A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1:31.740 | + 0: 00.893 |
| 14 | 5 | S. Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:31.769 | + 0: 00.922 |
| 15 | 14 | F. Alonso | Alpine | 1:31.770 | + 0: 00.923 |
| 16 | 7 | K. RäikkÜnen | Alfa Romeo | 1:31.862 | + 0: 01.014 |
| 17 | 63 | Mr. Russell | Williams | 1:32.331 | + 0: 01.484 |
| 18 | 47 | Mr. Schumacher | Haas F1 | 1:33.297 | + 0: 02.450 |
| 19 | 6 | N. Latifi | Williams | 1:33.400 | + 0: 02.553 |
| 20 | 9 | N. Mazepin | Haas F1 | 1:33.449 | + 0: 02.602 |
