McLaren put in strong showing in Bahrain practice as Hamilton struggles

McLaren look in strong form for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, setting the pace in second practice in Sakhir. 

Under the lights on Friday evening Oscar Piastri finished 0.154sec ahead of team-mate and championship leader Lando Norris. George Russell was third in the Mercedes but was more than half a second adrift of the ultimate pace. 

Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, 0.540sec off Piastri’s time. Lewis Hamilton appeared to struggle in the sister car and was down in eighth, more than one second off the pace and half a second off team-mate Leclerc. 

Max Verstappen, who is Norris’s closest challenger in the standings, was a disappointing seventh 0.825sec off Piastri’s time. He was behind even the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar, who finished sixth. 

Suzuka last weekend was the first grand prix that McLaren did not win, Verstappen taking that honour. The Dutchman and McLaren’s other rivals appear to have plenty of work to do over the weekend if they are to close the gap in the desert. 

05:14 PM BST

Session times for Saturday

Final practice is at 1.30pm BST with qualifying at 5pm. 

05:05 PM BST

FP2 - Classification

1. PIA 1:30.505
2. NOR +0.154
3. RUS +0.527
4. LEC +0.540
5. ANT +0.722
6. HAD +0.733
7. VER +0.825
8. HAM +1.071
9. BEA +1.079
10. SAI +1.118
11. ALB +1.191
12. LAW +1.201
13. BOR +1.267
14. DOO +1.283
15. ALO +1.320
16. OCO +1.365
17. GAS +1.442
18. TSU +1.519
19. STR +1.887
20. HUL +1.991

All 20 drivers within two seconds. In fact, just 1.2sec separates Anotnelli in fifth from Hulkenberg in 20th. Just 0.45sec between Hamilton in eighth and Tsunoda in 18th. It’s close, but not really at the very front. 

05:02 PM BST

FP2 ends - Piastri leads McLaren 1-2

Don’t think we saw anything from those race simulations that told us anything other than McLaren will be strong favourites this weekend. Full classification coming up. 

04:58 PM BST

FP2 - Russell has a big lock-up at T10

Well, he ends up miles off the circuit rather than locking up heavily.

Follow the lights, George!

Russell takes a little detour at Turn 10 #F1#BahrainGPpic.twitter.com/gWcyfPNGb0

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 11, 2025

Team-mate battle watch: Tsunoda well down from Max Verstappen (0.7sec or so) but Sainz ahead of Albon. Has been a tough start for the Spaniard at the team but he is still bedding in.

Hadjar is not only the lead Racing Bulls driver (Lawson in 12th, half a second back) but the leading Red Bull driver of any kind, a tenth or so ahead of Verstappen from a lap that was set on the medium tyres.

04:56 PM BST

FP2 - Hadjar was blocked by Hulkenberg

Stewards might take a look at this one but not sure we will see any penalty. 

Isack Hadjar wasn't too pleased with ...