McLaren Leads The Friday Charge In Bahrain

The Zak Brown and Andrea Stella-run McLaren team topped the time sheet at the end of the first day of free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were clearly quickest in FP2, the most significant session of the day, as it took place in similar temperatures to those the drivers will face tomorrow in qualifying and on Sunday in the race. Norris was also quickest in FP1 in 1’33”204. In the second hour, the papaya pair were the only ones to get under the 1’31” barrier, with Piastri posting a 1’30”505 and Norris a 1’30”659.

During last year’s two hours of Friday free practice there was no sign of the C1 compound, but today it was a completely different situation. Seven teams sent both their drivers out on one of their available sets of Hard tyres, the exceptions being Red Bull, Williams and Haas.

The breakdown of laps per compound today is as follows: 184 laps (19.41%) for the C1, 355 with the C2 (37. 45%) and 409 with the C3 (43.14%).

Lando Norris – Fastest in FP1

“A reasonable day for the team. Some tricky conditions, very different to the test, so it’s about understanding the car in the heat. The team have worked hard all day, and we now have plenty of things to focus on tomorrow to make sure we’re in a strong position for Qualifying.”

Oscar Piastri – Fastest in FP2

“Friday done. Pretty tricky conditions out there today, especially in FP1, but I think it’s been a good day overall. The pace looked strong in FP2, and we’ve learned a lot. We’ll have a look at what went well and what we can do better before turning our attention to Qualifying tomorrow afternoon.”

Simone Berra – Pirelli Chief Engineer

“As is always the case at Grands Prix where part of the programme is run under artificial lighting, there are some free practice sessions that are more useful than others when it comes to drawing conclusions for the rest of the weekend. We saw that today with only FP2 providing useful insights for tomorrow and Sunday.

“Of course, all the teams had a huge quantity of data to work from, as they and all the drivers completed three days of pre-season testing here. However, the conditions are very different now, with much higher temperatures, if you think that at 18.00 the track temperature got has high as 38° C, whereas during testing it never got above 19 °C.

“The most important point to take away from today is that we won’t see a repeat of what we witnessed in Suzuka a week ago, even though the tyre compounds are the same. The track and weather conditions are very different and we saw from today’s long runs that the level of thermal degradation on the tyres, not just on the rear axle but in some cases also on the front, was very high. It is therefore easy to imagine a two-stop race, with all three compounds potentially playing their part. It’s no coincidence that, unlike last year, seven teams have already run a set of Hard tyres.

“We didn’t see any particular issues in terms of tyre wear, with a very low level of surface abrasion.”

FORMULA 2

The FIA Formula 2 season resumes in Bahrain two weeks on from a three-day official test at this track. The Hard and Soft compounds nominated by Pirelli are the same as those used last year. Skipping the middle compound allows for a greater performance and degradation difference between the two, accentuating the role of strategy in the race. In the Sprint, the Soft should be the preferred choice, even if high temperatures could increase the need to manage the compound to avoid thermal degradation. In the Feature Race, starting on Softs could help a driver make up some places in the opening laps, making the most of the ease of overtaking at the Sakhir track. As for those starting on the Hard, they will try to delay the pit stop as long as possible in order to then make the most of the extra grip from the Soft in the closing stages.

In this afternoon’s qualifying, Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) set the fastest time in 1’44”008. The 2024 Formula 3 champion beat the veteran of this category, Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) by 155 thousandths. In third place was the English driver Luke Browning (Hitech TGR, 1’44”292), who in between free practice and qualifying had also run as one of the rookie drivers in the first F1 session, with Williams, as indeed did his F2 team-mate Dino Beganovic, ninth in qualifying in 1”44”765.

FORMULA 3

It’s the second round of the Formula 3 season after Melbourne. Sakhir has a very abrasive track surface and tyres experience significant thermal stress, because of the high temperatures but also through the phases of traction and braking, therefore the only choice of compound for this weekend had to be the Hard. The Formula 3 youngsters will definitely have made the most of the three days of testing at this track two weeks ahead of the race weekend, to learn how to best manage degradation on the new Hard, which is making its first appearance of the season.

In this afternoon’s qualifying, Brazil’s Rafael Camara (Trident), took pole position in a time of 1’49”214 ahead of Englishman Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport, 1’49”370) and Austria’s Charlie Wurz (Trident, 1’49”618).