As Norris completes McLaren 1-2
Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two in the second practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, with the Australian finishing 1500ths of a second clear of team-mate Lando Norris.
The pair used the hour-long session to forge a strong advantage over the rest of the field, with Mercedes’ George Russell half a second off the pace in third place and with Japanese Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen in P7 and over eight tenths of a second adrift of top spot.
In the opening quarter of the session, it was Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton who set the early pace with a lap of 1:32.157 on Mediums. Soft tyre-shod Kimi Antonelli slotted into second, +0.141 off the man he replaced at Mercedes, while George Russel was third on the same tyre, almost four tenths off his former team-mate. Max Verstappen then moved ahead of Russell with a lap of 1:32.376 on Soft tyres after the Red Bull driver had earlier complained about the ride of his car, which was bumping around the track.
There was a bigger problem, though, for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who had an issue with his steering wheel and returned to the garage to fit a new one.
Just after the quarter hour mark Russell moved in the 1m31s bracket and to the top of the timesheet as he outpaced Hamilton by two tenths of a second.
Hamilton then bolted on a set of Soft tyres and thanks to a purple middle sector he moved back to P1 with a lap of 1:31.915, still almost two seconds off Verstappen’s 2024 pole time.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the next to get a spell in P1 as he also used Soft tyres to move the benchmark to 1:31.729. The Monegasque’s time at the top was all too brief, however, as Williams’ Alex Albon posted a time of 1:31.696 to slip past and then Verstappen found almost four tenths more to claim P1 with a lap of 1:31.330.
The McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had spent much of the opening half of the session running Hard compound Pirelli tyres but as the midpoint approached both moved to Soft tyres and Piastri took top spot on 1:30.505, just 0.0154 ahead of Norris. The Mercedes pair also moved ahead of Verstappen with Russell in third, half a second off Piastri, with Antonelli two tenths further back.
With a little over 20 minutes left in the session Leclerc split the Mercedes, 0.013s off Russell, but there was no upward movement for Verstappen who complained that he had no brakes in the final corner as he stalled in P7 behind stablemate Isack Hadjar who was the highest placed of the Red Bull owned cars with a time of 1:31.238 set on Medium tyres. Verstappen, however, was working his way through a longer run on Softs, as was team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was down on 17th place.
With long runs now the order of the evening, the times settled and with the McLarens of Piastri in the top two spots ahead of Russell and Leclerc, with Antonelli in fifth place. Hadjar took sixth for Racing Bulls, with Verstappen in seventh and still complaining of brake issues in the final corner. Hamilton took eighth place for Ferrari, just 0.008s ahead of Haas’ Oliver Bearman who put in a strong performance to finish ahead the Williams pair of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:30.505 26 215.272
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:30.659 0.154 25 214.906
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.032 0.527 22 214.025
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.045 0.540 24 213.995
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.227 0.722 24 213.568
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:31.238 0.733 21 213.542
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:31.330 0.825 24 213.327
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:31.576 1.071 20 212.754
9 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:31.584 1.079 24 212.735
10 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:31.623 1.118 25 212.645
11 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:31.696 1.191 26 212.476
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:31.706 1.201 24 212.452
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:31.772 1.267 22 212.300
14 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:31.788 1.283 24 212.263
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:31.825 1.320 16 212.177
16 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:31.870 1.365 23 212.073
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:31.947 1.442 24 211.895
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:32.024 1.519 21 211.718
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:32.382 1.877 24 210.898
20 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:32.496 1.991 20 210.638
FP1
F1 championship leader Lando Norris went quickest in the opening practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix as teams gave six rookies track time at the Sakhir circuit.
Having conducted pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit in late February and with the daytime opening practice session taking place in conditions unrepresentative of Sunday evening’s race, team’s chose to hand a clutch of reserve and test drivers an opportunity to gain valuable F1 experience. Ayumu Iwasa stood in at Red Bull for defending world champipon Max Verstappen, while Dino Beganovic drove Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari SF-25. At Mercedes, Frederik Vesti replaced George Russell, Felipe Drugovich stood in for Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin, Ryo Hirakawa drove in place of Ollie Bearman at Haas and Luke Browning took Carlos Sainz’s seat at Williams.
It was title leader Norris who controlled things at the top of the order, however, with the McLaren driver setting an early, albeit conservative, benchmark at 1:35.249, six seconds off the fastest lap in pre-season testing set by Carlos Sainz.
Sainz's Williams team-mate Alex Albon was Norris' closest challenger but then Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto took over at the top with a Soft tyre time of 1:34.628. Bortoleto and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly traded times before Norris once again jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:33.204, ahead of Gasly, Albon and Haas driver Esteban Ocon.
Towards the end of the session Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finally bolted on a set of Soft tyres and climbed to third behind Norris and Gasly as he tested the new floor Ferrari have brough to the SF-25 in Bahrain.
Albon dropped to fourth on the timesheet, with Ocon taking fifth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg and Alpine’s Jack Doohan. Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri completed the top 10 order.
Of the rookies on show, Browning was the highest placed, taking 13th place with a time of 1:34.885, 1.681 off Norris and a little under two tenths ahead of Ferrari's Beganovic.
Drugovich took P16 ahead of Hirakawa, Vesti, Iwasa and regular Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:33.204 23 209.038
2 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:33.442 0.238 23 208.505
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:33.800 0.596 23 207.710
4 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:33.928 0.724 24 207.426
5 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:34.184 0.980 19 206.863
6 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:34.262 1.058 24 206.691
7 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:34.396 1.192 23 206.398
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:34.397 1.193 23 206.396
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:34.484 1.280 23 206.206
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:34.508 1.304 25 206.153
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:34.628 1.424 23 205.892
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:34.667 1.463 22 205.807
13 Luke Browning Williams/Mercedes 1:34.885 1.681 20 205.334
14 Dino Beganovic Ferrari 1:35.055 1.851 20 204.967
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.116 1.912 23 204.836
16 Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.198 1.994 19 204.659
17 Ryō Hirakawa Haas/Ferrari 1:35.261 2.057 20 204.524
18 Frederik Vesti Mercedes 1:35.325 2.121 26 204.387
19 Ayumu Iwasa Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:35.475 2.271 20 204.065
20 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:38.051 4.847 3 198.704
