Piastri sets the benchmark under Bahrain lights

Oscar Piastri topped the timesheets under the lights in Bahrain, edging out his teammate in a competitive second practice session that marked the first real look at race weekend form.

With representative conditions on offer, drivers hit the track ready to make every lap count in a crucial second practice session in Sakhir.

Oscar Piastri started his session with the hardest compound available, setting the fourth-fastest time straight out of the box. 

Launching for a second time, the Australian wrangled his MCL39 around the Bahrain International Circuit, setting a personal best through the first sector before losing out in the middle sector, prompting Piastri to abort the attempt. 

Returning to the track on the soft compound tyre, Piastri stole the fastest Sector 2 and 3 from his teammate, eventually taking the top sport as well when he crossed the line with a time of 1:30.505s.

Sitting in P1, Piastri’s lap held strong as the fastest time of the session, prompting a switch to the hard compound tyre.

The Australian had a significant lock-up into the first corner, however, he wasn’t alone when Liam Lawson followed suit just moments later. 

Piastri ended the session back on the C3, testing the grip limitations through to his practice start on the grid. 

Completing just one timed lap before returning to the pitlane, Liam Lawson briefly positioned himself one second behind the early benchmark after an attempt on the medium compound. 

Lawson was one of the last drivers to make the switch to Pirelli’s soft compound tyre, finally gracing the track to set a time of 1:31.706s which left him just one-hundredth shy of the top ten.

The Kiwi remained on track, transitioning his soft tyres from a performance-run focus to a long-run focus.

As a result, Lawson couldn’t boost his VCARB 02 into the top ten, finishing FP2 1.2 seconds slower than the benchmark.

Starting his session on the medium compound, Jack Doohan banked himself a mid-range lap time on the medium compound tyre, sitting just over a second behind the fastest driver.

Despite improving on his lap with the assistance of a fresh set of C3 tyres, the interval between Doohan and the latest benchmark grew, however, a more accurate measure of the #7’s progress had him two-tenths quicker than his teammate. 

Doohan returned to the pitlane shortly after, rejoining the session with 15 minutes remaining, however, there wasn’t much movement on the timing sheets from the Australian.

The French outfit didn’t show much pace in FP2, ending the session with Doohan in P14 and Pierre Gasly in P17.

One of six drivers forced to sit out of FP1 due to rookie practice requirements, Charles Leclerc led the pack out of the pitlane when the light went green, quickly facing the same tyre-related predicaments that the rest of the grid attempted to navigate earlier. 

As one of the drivers on return, Leclerc wasn’t alone when Max Verstappen also struggled to control his RB21 despite the track temperature dropping 13°C since FP1.

Fernando Alonso’s struggles weren’t surface or tyre-related, instead onboards showed the steering wheel of the Aston Martin detaching as he ran off at Turn 1 while making his worries clear over the radio.

Lewis Hamilton was a rarity as one of only a few drivers able to put a clean lap together on his opening lap, being rewarded with an early benchmark of 1:32.157s despite his pending dissatisfaction in the SF25.

Behind, three drivers had elected to start their FP2 run plans on the soft compound tyre, with the Mercedes duo and Verstappen filing in behind the Ferrari driver and being separated by three-tenths. 

Drivers continued to slide their way around the 5.4km circuit, with more gradually opting to sport the soft compound as the session reached the halfway mark.

Lighting up the timing sheets, Lando Norris put over six-tenths between himself and the man in second, a margin that seemed untouchable until Piastri stole the spotlight by 0.154s. 

Behind, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli — both drivers who missed out on running in FP1 due to a variety of reasons — made it a Mercedes-powered top four, with the RB of Isack Hadjar — the highest driver of any Red Bull-backed team — just milliseconds behind.

In the dying minutes of the session, Hadjar was in a racing mood as he challenged Nico Hulkenberg for track position, growing frustrated as he attempted two passes on the #27 across the lap before multiple lock-ups forced him to settle in behind. 

As the laps ticked by, improvements during qualifying simulations expectedly became rarer and rarer, and soon, the focus had switched from performance runs to long runs to round out FP2 in Bahrain. 

The Australian ended the session as the man to beat, one-tenth ahead of Norris while Russell rounded out the top three, however, at an additional four-tenth margin to Piastri.

Image: McLaren

Free Practice 2 Results:

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